A Marriage of Convenience
by archchic
Summary: Will two strong and individual spirits be able to give up their private lives and future dreams for the sake of their homelands? Will they be able to make a marriage work or prevent war from engulfing both their lands? [Gaara x Sakura, Alternate Reality]
1. Unusual Proposal

**Author's Note**: Woooow... my first fanfiction. I've read TONS of wonderful fiction on this site (check out my favorite stories), but this is the first time I've had a clear enough idea for a story to actually be able to write anything. I'm pretty good with spelling, but my grammar I'm much less sure about. Please feel free to correct me if you see anything wrong

If anyone who's better than me at both spelling and grammar would like to be a beta reader/ editor, that would be wonderful. Please send me an email.

I think there's some sort of custom concerning standard disclaimers... so... » insert standard disclaimer here «

**Concerning the story** - I've read several arranged marriage stories with Gaara and Sakura, but while I've enjoyed a few, none of them seemed to take the situation quite as seriously as I had desired. Arranging a marriage between the two for political purposes would be a huge deal for the politics of the countries, plus Gaara and Sakura seem to fall together too easily for my tastes. These are both strong individuals who would be giving up their private lives for the sake of their countries. Asking someone to go on a mission, take a job, is a league away from asking them to give up their freedom and future dreams for the sake of their homeland. I'm not very experienced in developing a storyline, but I hope that this story can avoid those pitfalls

I also hope in future chapters to avoid the huge amount of political exposition that is serving to set up my backstory in this chapter. I LOOOVE humor and fluff, and I want to get to the good stuff, just not in a hurried manner. This story is a slight alternate reality (AR) - Shukaku is still sealed within Gaara, Sakura's parents died in a battle with the Land of Earth many years ago and Tsunade adopted her into her own clan and family at the end of the timeskip (eg 3 years after she began training with her.) Gaara is 20 and Sakura's 19, and Sasuke is still (and perhaps forever?) MIA.

So let's begin...

* * *

Soft rays of light poured in through open café windows, illuminating two people conversing in quiet tones over a simple morning coffee. 

"So… What is it that this mere medic can do for you Ambassador? And why did you request this meeting in such an… informal… location?" Shizune leaned back and quietly sipped her coffee to stifle a yawn, curious why the man would call her at such an ungodly hour simply to request a meeting.

Taking time to phrase his answers in the most polite way, the older gentleman responded slowly, "In Suna, our population rises well before dawn to start the day, then breaks when the heat becomes overly oppressive, only to resume as the sun enters its last quarter of the sky. I am sorry for the short notice, but this quiet shop is, as you can see, quite empty this early in the morning. Yet two people can sit and converse here without seeming out of place at all.

'_Great, he's saying the entire population of Suna are morning people… if I lived there I think I might die…_' Shizune frowned, "Yes, it is quite early. In fact, I didn't believe this time of day had ever existed before. Thank you for helping me make such a wonderful discovery." Sarcasm biting her tone, she endeavored to reign in her annoyance at his predawn request to meet her. Setting down her coffee and closing her eyes for a moment, she opened them and addressed the man with more respect, "Seeing a beautiful sunrise with the respected Ambassador of Suna is not a great effort, please tell me what it is I might help you with."

The ambassador leaned forward a little, and took on a more direct tone, "Suna knows of Konoha's struggles with the Lands of Sound and Earth. Suna also knows of the growing alliance between those lands, and that Konoha is facing an increasingly strong enemy who desires your abundant rice fields and wooded forests for themselves. Were they to ally fully against you, Konoha, despite your impressive array of talent, might be overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Suna has its own share of troubles with the Land of Earth, but they do not covet our sandy expanses a fraction as much as your wooded forests.

Pausing here for a moment, the ambassador continued more quietly, "Suna has more internal troubles than external, and they revolve around two issues that we think Konoha might be able to assist with. In return for your assistance we would bind our alliance tighter than any two hidden villages have ever before, to present a united front against the Lands of Sound and Earth. Our united strength would be more than enough to keep the fractious Sound and Earth at bay in both our lands, and increased trade would enrich us as well."

Shizune was taken aback by the speech and sudden directness of the older man, and stared at him in confusion. Her coffee now forgotten and feeling fully awake, she blurted out, "But why in the world would you want to speak to me about such things? I'm not a diplomat in any way, there are many whom you know in our government to discuss such things with – I'm just a doctor and sometimes assistant!

Propping his elbow on the table and holding his hand out as if to say '_Exactly_', he softly intoned, "It is because of your close relationship with the Hokage that I wished to ask your advice on our proposal. I cannot approach anyone in an official capacity with this proposition because of its radical nature, it would cause too much embarrassment to both parties were it to be discussed openly at this time." He shifted slightly in his seat, looking to the side uncomfortably for a moment before turning back to her, "It has not been... _officially approved_... by our Lord Kazekage..."

"Then I think you had better tell me what those two issues you think Konoha can help with are. I'll do the best I can, but I can't guarantee I won't mess up and embarrass everyone anyway… I'm a doctor, not a diplomat…" Shizune grumbled

The ambassador leaned back for a moment, taking a long drink from his coffee to gather his thoughts before continuing. Setting his cup down and clearing his throat, he straightened and laced his fingers together on the table in a businesslike manner, saying, "This is not easy for me to discuss with outsiders, the people of Suna are more private than the boisterous people of Konoha, but... It concerns our Daimyo lord, and our Kazekage, Gaara.

"Our Daimyo has been sending his business to other villages, Konoha being one, and losing our revenue to competing villages is both embarrassing and destructive. Our Daimyo must see that Suna is the strongest village to address his needs, and if Konoha would turn down business from him he would be left with fewer choices as well. Perhaps the Daimyo is purposefully trying to weaken our village to remove some perceived threat to himself, perhaps he has just lost faith in Suna shinobi abilities, we do not know

"One thing we do know however is he sees our Kazekage as unstable and unfit to rule, though Gaara-sama is anything but. Assuaging his fears of the Kazekage would go a long way toward rebuilding ties between the Daimyo and Sunagakure. But how to do so?

"You must understand that, unlike your Hokage, who is chosen by a committee of elders, the title of Kazekage passes by heredity. Gaara-sama inherited the title of Kazekage not only because he is one of the most powerful shinobi Suna has ever had, but because he is the legitimate son of the Fourth Kazekage. His elder siblings both turned down the title in favor of Gaara-sama, and thus was he acceptable by Suna's own committee of elders to become the Fifth Kazekage

"Now Gaara-sama himself is 20 years old and unmarried, with no prospect of being so engaged in the future. Neither sibling has shown any interest in settling down as well, and having already turned down the title of Kazekage, if Gaara-sama were to perish there would be no one of suitable lineage or strength to take his place. There would be civil war as factions of shinobi fought to assume control of Sunagakure, and Suna might perish under the harsh desert winds."

The ambassador fixed her with a look that burned of determination, stating without even speaking that he would do anything to prevent that from happening. Quietly but intensely he finally asked, "What I need to know from you is this. Would the Hokage be open to a dialogue in which her own adopted daughter, Haruno Sakura, were to be married to the Kazekage of Suna, to cement our alliance for your strength and to ensure the lineage of the Kazekage line?


	2. Consideration

Shizune sat stunned, mouth slightly agape and looking like someone had just slapped her with a fish, _'When he said radical he really meant it! I can't remember anything like that ever happening in the history of the five great ninja villages!'_ Closing her mouth with an audible snap, she tried to think of how to answer his question, _'_Would_ Tsunade even entertain the idea? Would she be furious, or thoughtful?'_ Shizune could easily image the Godaime in either state, punching the diplomat through the door for daring to suggest an arranged marriage for her daughter and friend, or sitting quietly at her desk with her fingers laced in thoughtful repose as she considered all that was at stake. _'What is at stake? I don't really understand all the diplomatic details, but even I see the increasing aggression of Sound and Earth, the future of Konoha and Suna… the future could hold many deadly battles, or this alliance could prevent so much bloodshed… But could Tsunade really ask Sakura to give up her life like that?'_ As soon as she thought the last, she knew the answer.

"The Hokage would consider your request. We should speak to her as soon as possible concerning all you have told me." Shizune stated simply, thinking to herself, _'Tsunade will weep when sending her shinobi to the death on a mission, but if it is for the safety of this village, she will still send them. Tsunade asks shinobi to potentially give up their lives every single day. How she can live with that heavy responsibility I don't know, but she won't set it aside even for the daughter she loves.' _

The ambassador let out a breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding, and smiled a small smile at the young woman across from him. "I am glad to hear you say so, and truthfully, that was the other reason this meeting happened so early this morning. We can go immediately to talk to the Hokage, and have the rest of the day to discuss this business." Standing up, he politely laid down money for both their coffees and waited for Shizune to rise.

Shizune smirked, "That's a fine idea, but the Hokage isn't exactly a morning person either…"

* * *

Tsunade stood at her office windows, thrown open to let the fresh breeze permeate the room as she considered all the ambassador from Suna had proposed. She felt like she needed a good stiff drink… or ten… but couldn't in good conscience indulge the urge at the moment. _'He just _had_ to catch me in the _morning_ when I'm _sober_… Doesn't the ambassador know that all diplomacy starts with alcohol?'_

However, she had to admit that Suna's extreme proposition had quite a lot of positives, and too few negatives. Along with arranging the marriage of Sakura to the Kazekage Gaara, the ambassador had requested an unspecified number of shinobi accompany her. Suna would exchange shinobi as well, as a sign of good faith, but Suna would receive the lion's share of human talent to shore up their military capabilities. All who were involved in this exchange would become permanent citizens of their new lands and answer solely to their new Kage. They would have only one standing order from their old homeland…

_The ambassador leaned forward to Tsunade, emphasizing the life or death nature of this discussion with his simple words, "The only duty of the naturalized shinobi to their previous homeland would be to kill their new Kage, should they betray our alliance." _

_Tsunade lifted a brow slightly, asking in a soft tone, "Hanging a rather overbearing sword above each Kage's head, eh?" _

It was a good system, actually, and Konoha would have more strength in place to enforce the alliance than Suna, but at a high price in talent. _'Konoha would have the ultimate sword in fact – there's probably no way to get closer to the Kage than to marry them…' _

_'Sakura…' _

Sakura, her beloved student, friend, and now daughter. Sakura, who had grown from an average ninja to an exceptional one in the years since she became Hokage. Sakura, whose rank in Tsunade's ANBU squads was second only to her best friend Naruto. Sakura, who had confessed to Tsunade over dinner once that she had seen a family playing with their children in the park that day, and wondered if she would ever find someone to share that kind of happiness with. Sakura, who had achieved all the strength she desired as a child, but none of the love of a partner.

'Is the life of the many really worth more than the life of the few? Or the one? Can I trade Sakura's life and happiness for the lives of faceless Konoha citizens?' Tsunade felt in her heart that it might crush her to ask Sakura to do such a thing, to give her newly found daughter away after only a few short years together. 'But to ignore all the potential good that could come from this alliance, just to protect one person's happiness… As Hokage, I can't do it. I wish... desperately... to, but I can't.'

Tsunade brushed her hair aside absently and leaned her head against the window frame, 'I wonder if Naruto ever dreams of all the heartbreaking decisions that come along with the title of Hokage.' Finally decisive, she stood up straight and thought, 'I'll tell Sakura everything, and ask her to do this. But I won't order her to. If she's unwilling then it was never the right solution for Konoha anyway.'

* * *

**Author's Note: ** Perhaps not everyone will know what sword I'm referring to above... Check out the Sword of Damocles legend on wikipedia if you're interested. 

As one of my favorite quotes says, "If I do a little each day, I can gradually let the task completely overwhelm me." I think I'll try and keep moving forward, even if the chapters aren't very long. And woooow... getting reviews was amazing... Thank you all. You don't have to review for me to continue (I hate demanding readers like that), but encouragement, pointing out mistakes, or making suggestions are always welcome.


	3. Offer Made

If the term 'playful' can be applied to punches that can shatter trees, ground, and certainly human flesh, it could be said Sakura 'playfully' threw punches at her sparring partner. Naruto skillfully deflected or dodged all these, practicing only defensive taijutsu at the moment. Sakura was really an excellent partner to practice taijutsu with – trained by Rock Lee to the very limits of her physical body, the fact that her punches could pulverize a body was always highly motivational to anyone brave enough to spar with her. For the last year that had been Naruto almost exclusively.

Naruto ducked as a high kick came flying toward his head, but was too slow by a hair's breath to avoid the left hook that seemed to follow it out of nowhere. Clipping his shoulder but managing to avoid the worst, he tucked into a roll and put some distance between them. Before Sakura could press home her attack, Naruto threw up his hands in their universal gesture of 'Stop'.

Panting hard, Naruto managed to gasp out, "Eh, Sakura-chan, I must be getting tired… And you might have dislocated my shoulder…"

" Moron, you always look at the obvious attack and miss that it's only a distraction for other things," Sakura scolded, but she relaxed her posture and padded over to Naruto to check his condition.

"Hinata will kill me if I come home too beaten up to help plant her new apple trees…" Naruto whined as Sakura sat down next to him, tugging his gi off his upper body and inspecting the rapidly bruising muscle.

She lightly bopped him on the head before answering, "If I heal this now do you think we can keep going? I still haven't practiced my defense, and there's a few moves I'd like to try out against your Kage Bushin." Naruto's naturally fast healing would take care of the injury in short order, but not quite fast enough for Sakura's schedule.

"Absolutely! You're the best to spar with Sakura, if you land an injury I don't have to go anywhere to get healed!" Naruto beamed as Sakura laid glowing blue hands on his well defined shoulder.

" Moron! It takes chakra to patch someone up you know… I wouldn't waste chakra healing such a minor injury but I want my turn on defense too," Sakura grumbled while giving him an annoyed glare. "And you need to be in top shape to even get close to being a challenge…" she added teasingly.

Naruto looked at her shrewdly, then turned his eyes to the far wall and affected a confused face as she remove her hands from his now healed shoulder. "Oh, is that so? I suppose it was another girl with pink hair that needed to go to the bathroom so bad last Saturday while sparring that she…"

"SHUT UP!" Feminine fists of fury tried to reign down holy wrath on the blond hair before her, only to find it had disappeared and reappeared on the far side of the mats. Sakura rocketed to her feet with the intent to pursue, but stopped at Naruto's amused voice.

"But Sakura-chan, don't you want your chance at defense?" Suddenly wary of the blonde's attack posture, she assumed her own defensive one and silently vowed to work a forgetfulness jutsu into one of his many trips to get healed at the hospital.

'_Just you wait Naruto… I'll make you forget that underwear go on _under_ your pants, right before a planning meeting for ANBU if you ever utter that story to ANYONE…'_ Wicked thoughts of Naruto walking in wearing his underwear over his pants, and the looks on the faces of all of the talented shinobi staring at their captain, brought a feral grin to Sakura's face. "Give me the best you've got buster."

Naruto happily complied, creating 3 clones around him, and crying out as they all charged, "HYAAA!"

Only to be interrupted by the dojo door slamming open and Shizune crying out "Sakura!"

Naruto and his clones screeched to a halt, too hard in fact, and ended up falling flat on their faces. As the Kage Bushin disappeared into smoke, Sakura looked at Shizune with a bewildered expression.

"What's wrong? I'm not expected for my shift at the hospital until noon…"

Shizune shook her head violently, hurrying over to Sakura saying, "Sakura, please come with me immediately to see Tsunade-sama!"

"But like this? Is this anything official?" Sakura gestured at her practice gi, her undershirt exposed and soaked with sweat.

Shizune paused, taken aback in her distress by Sakura's state of attire, "No… you're right, I think you'd better get cleaned up first. In fact, get cleaned up and dressed to meet important people. You too Naruto. Today you have to meet people who might…" She trailed off, thinking to herself _'who might decide your future, my future, our whole village's future…'_

* * *

Tsunade and the Suna ambassador had started with a brief explanation to Sakura and Naruto of the political situation of both lands. Sakura especially had to understand the bigger picture first, so she would not dismiss the idea out of hand. But as the impromptu political lesson dragged on, Sakura became too impatient to contain herself any longer. 

"My own parents were killed by ninja from the Land of Earth. It was a long time ago, but I do know how dangerous they still are, and I'm not completely ignorant about Konoha's state of affairs," she clipped, exasperation filling her voice. "There isn't anything I can do about it though, except keep taking missions as Tsunade-sama requests and heal people. Why did you call us here?"

The ambassador gave the Hokage a very direct gaze, as though saying _'Might as well…'_ Tsunade steeled herself and began to rip her own heart out.

"Sakura, to strengthen our alliance and aid both Konoha and Suna, the ambassador is proposing an exchange of shinobi between our hidden villages. A permanent one. Two shinobi from Sand would become permanent residents of Konoha, working directly for me. Four shinobi from Leaf would become permanent residents of Suna, three working directly for the Kazekage. Who these five are is of little matter, as long as they are highly skilled shinobi of their respective villages. The last…" Tsunade's voice caught for a moment, but she ruthlessly forced herself to continue on, "The last would be you. You are the key to the exchange. The ambassador of Suna is proposing an arranged marriage between you, my daughter, and the Kazekage Gaara."

Upon hearing this a feeling of shock washed over her, and a cold feeling of fear took up residence in her stomach. _'She… I… _WHAT_?? This can't be right… does she… I mean… it can't be me! She can't possibly mean me!'_ Sakura was saved having to try and answer by Naruto, who leaped to his feet and stood in front of the stunned girl protectively.

"Tsunade-baa-chan, what the hell are you asking Sakura to do! No one arranges marriages for anyone in Konoha! You can't do that to Sakura!" Naruto yelled.

"Sit down Captain!" Tsunade yelled back, interrupting his tirade before he could get a full head of steam, "You're here because you'll be recommending who else would be sent to Suna if Sakura agrees." Motioning him to move, Naruto reluctantly did so, but refused to sit down just yet. Turning to Sakura and addressing her directly, she said, "Sakura, as your adopted mother, I do _not_ want you to do this, but as your Hokage, I ask you to consider it. I will not order you to accept this proposition. It will be your choice, but please consider carefully the perilous state of affairs for both our countries, and the magnitude of benefit that this alliance could bring to us."

Sakura could only sit frozen, her mind racing with everything Tsunade had just said. _'She says proposition, but she's talking about my whole life! She's asking me to accept a mission that would never end... How can you ask me to give up all my dreams of a future, with a husband who loves me and a family of my own! How can you give me away!'_ Suddenly angry at the woman she loved as a mother for seeming to abandon her just for political gain, Sakura stood up. Face angry but feeling closer to tears, she delivered her answer.

"No."

* * *

After Sakura had hurriedly left the Hokage's office, the ambassador looked at Tsunade with a downcast expression and stood. "Perhaps it was too much to hope that one so young would be able to agree to such a radical proposition. I will send word to my government immediately." 

Holding up a placating hand, Tsunade sighed, "No, please wait before doing so. I am disappointed that she didn't consider the proposition fully, but I want to make sure that's really her final answer. Give us a few days…" Rising and turning to the still standing Naruto, she let iron enter her voice and ordered, "Naruto, please follow me. I feel the need to get out of this stifling office."

* * *

Tsunade stood on the roof of the Hokage's building, staring ahead toward the mountainside bearing her visage and softly asked Naruto, "Are you defined by the missions you accept? If you take on a mission, does that mission set the limits of your self?" 

Beside her, Naruto glanced at her in a curious way, then followed her eyes to the wise visages of previous Hokages. "Yes and no… There's so much more to every person than just the job they do, but how they do their job is a reflection of themselves too. We all have lives outside of missions…" Naruto trailed off, suddenly seeing what Tsunade was getting at.

The Sannin pondered Naruto for a moment, then, turning her full attention to him asked, "Could _you _have asked Sakura to take this mission? Would _you _have been able to put aside your personal feelings and ask your best friend to take a mission to last the rest of her life? With the lives of every person in this village your responsibility to protect, would _you _have asked her to sacrifice her dreams for you?

_"If it was Hinata and not Sakura, would you be able to give her to another man?" _

Naruto's stepped back in shock, eyes wide and stuttering, "I… I…"

Tsunade's eyes narrowed minutely and she crossed her arms under her chest. Sternly, she asked her last question, "Did you think being Hokage is only about getting people to acknowledge who you are?"

* * *

**Author's note:** Yay Sakura appears! Naruto prepares to attack Sakura aaaaand… enter convenient fight interrupting plot device! I think I'm not good at writing fights because I know little to NOTHING about fighting, so I wanted to dodge the bullet, just once… Besides, can anyone imagine Naruto actually swinging at Sakura as though he really meant to hit her? Even if he has hooked up with Hinata… I just can't see it. 

But what, pray tell, do you think might have stumped me worse than anything in this whole chapter? What to have Naruto going home to help Hinata with… Picking out curtains or painting house is just so… clichéd… it makes me want to puke. But more normal exercises like yard work or laundry… somehow they leave something to be desired… ah well, better to pick something and move on, rather than fuss over it forever…

Comments about right and wrong use of commas is welcome at this moment, I think I'm forgetting what all the proper grammar rules are...


	4. Tragic Reconsideration

Sakura stormed out of the Hokage's building and headed to the hospital, swirling with conflicting emotions. She felt at once betrayed and honored, thinking to herself, _'Did Tsunade adopt me just so I could be her political pawn?! She's done so much for me, I know she loves me! But I have the right to live my life! She doesn't own me, she can't just sell me to the highest bidder…' _

Flopping down on a bench just outside the hospital to cool down before her shift, she started to feel a pang of remorse for her actions. _'I should have been more polite to the ambassador… Suna must really need this alliance, and I threw it in his face without even attempting to be diplomatic…' _She sighed quietly, wondering if there was any way now to apologize to the ambassador without it being too little, too late. _'But really, me! Marrying GAARA! Don't they know that he tried to kill me once! Maybe being Kazekage has steadied him somewhat, he certainly can't be a leader of a country _and_ the homicidal boy he used to be.'_ Actually, if she thought about it, she seemed to remember nothing but praise for Gaara's leadership. Maybe he chose to rule with an iron hand, but he protected his people and dealt justice fairly, certainly ruling better than some more personable Daimyo's and Kage's she knew of. _'His stubbornness and my hotheadedness… we'd probably kill each other before _ever_ getting around to making those heirs the ambassador eluded to…'_ Sakura couldn't help but shudder at the thought of intimacy with Gaara. She couldn't imagine a _less_ tender person in her life.

_'Tsunade did say she wasn't ordering me, just asking me, so I'm ok. I need to just calm down and go back to work…'_ Working through a calming exercise for a few minutes, she managed to bury the storm of confusing emotions enough to head inside.

* * *

Inside, the hospital was a paragon of order, with nurses and doctors calmly going about their business; chatting, delivering medicines, and helping the occasional patient move around as they needed. Sakura loved it there, she felt like an important part of the village when helping average citizens with their ills. Working as a shinobi brought money and business to the village, but usually the people hiring for those missions were not people she would ever help otherwise. Unscrupulous lords and greedy businessmen were most common, all trying to grind the competition into the dust and raise themselves up on the backs of others. Working as a doctor Sakura got to help her neighbors and friends, average people in the village who were just trying their best to find a bit of happiness and purpose in their lives. 

She checked her duty schedule and, after changing into her scrubs, headed to the pediatric ward. With its screaming children and worried parents perhaps it didn't quite match the orderliness of the rest of the hospital, but Sakura enjoyed it best of all. Many of the children tended to be so fascinated by her bubblegum colored hair and joking manner they were sufficiently distracted from whatever ailed them. Parents too appreciated her gentle, confident demeanor and often asked to see her specifically. _'There's a lot of love here, even if it's accompanied by worried, scared parents.'_ Dealing with the parents was usually more of a stress than the children.

Sakura's first case of the afternoon was a little girl who'd fallen and cut her knee open badly. She examined the injury and told the father in a quiet voice that she'd need stitches, but that otherwise it would be fine. Playing a game with the young girl, where she asked her to name everything she knew that was the same color as her hair, ("Gum! Teddy! Cotton Candy! My dress!) Sakura was able to distract her enough to numb her knee and begin cleaning it properly.

Sakura was interrupted in the middle of stitching the little girl's knee by the pediatric ward nurse calmly entering the room, though Sakura could sense the upset chakra radiating off of the woman. _'What on earth?'_ To avoid alarming the little girl or her father, Sakura affected an unsurprised manner and asked, "Is there something you need Ayame?"

The tall woman nodded stiffly as she walked over and removed Sakura's stitching instruments from her hands, saying "I'll take over from here Sakura-dono, you are needed in the emergency ward, _stat._"

Sakura's brows knotted together, but otherwise she managed to keep a calm façade in place. "Thank you," she said simply, and left the room. Once the door was closed however, she broke into a quick walk and then a jog, anxious to arrive at the emergency ward – she had never before been interrupted with a patient. There were many capable and experienced doctors on the emergency room staff, and unless it was her shift she couldn't imagine why she'd be needed.

Sakura reached the emergency ward in short order, and with a glance determined only one room was in use. Walking in to the fray, Sakura was briefly glad of being an experienced doctor and shinobi – she no longer flinched at the sight of blood. Which was helpful, as the person now laying on the examination table was covered in it, head to toe. _Dried_ blood. Slipping on a pair of surgical gloves a nurse shoved her way, the other staff made space for her as she stepped up to the table. She almost fell back in shock however, when she realized just who it was under the crusted blood. _'Oh my GOD… Kiba!'_

Her hands lit blue as she began scanning his body, head to foot. When she reached his abdomen she paused for a long time, and unexpected tears of fury and revulsion began to seep out of her eyes. She managed to finish her scan, and began barking orders. "Get 2 pints and begin a blood transfusion. Kiba is B positive. Get a dialysis machine in here too and hook it up to him NOW."

The nurses scrambled to do as she'd commanded, while the attending doctor's waited for an explanation so they could help with treatment. A brief look of horror washed over her face, tears still leaking out of her eyes as she told them, "He's been butchered… someone removed his liver and kidneys. But _only_ his liver and kidneys, somehow they didn't damage the rest of his internal organs, which is why he's still alive." A sob threatened to choke her speech, but she managed to suppress it and continue, "Whoever did this wanted him to live long enough to return… but he's gone into acute renal failure. I'm going to try and stabilize him, you should continue to hook him up to the dialysis machine and transfuse blood." But Sakura's thoughts were laced with despair, _'I can't grow new organs for him though, the building blocks of healing any injury have to come from the person's own body… and it's not like there's a liver or kidney transplant just waiting around for us to use…He'll have to remain permanently on dialysis until transplant organs are available…'_

Reaching with her chakra deep into his body, Sakura began to heal cuts that would leak precious transfused blood, as well as temporarily cauterizing the tissue previously connected to his missing internal organs. Once done with that task, she could feel the sickness of his blood like swimming through a polluted river stream, and began the delicate mission of filtering out only the waste elements from his blood. Were it not for her precise chakra control she could never have done such a task, there was too much risk of overcompensating and pulling out essential blood elements with the waste.

Sakura felt her chakra levels draining low, but Kiba's heart beat was getting steadily stronger, so she started to swim her way up and out of the healing trance. "He's stabilizing…" she intoned in a feeble voice.

As if to prove her point, Kiba started to stir awake, mumbling and tossing weakly. Sakura quickly stepped forward again and grabbed his arm, the doctor opposite her doing the same. "Kiba, don't move! You're going to be all right, you're safe now, so don't move around."

At the sound of her voice Kiba's eyes shot open, panic in his expression until he was able to focus on Sakura's unmistakable pink hair. The panic left his face, but he started to speak despite Sakura's shushing.

"Our mission was a failure… the whole team… gone. _Akamaru…_" he was briefly caught by a sob, but it quickly turned in to a blood-laced cough.

"Don't speak Kiba! It's ok now, you're safe," she reassured, laying a soothing hand on his forehead.

Kiba however was determined to report to someone what had gone wrong, before he lost consciousness again. He continued, "It was Iwagakure ninja… ambush… after our mission was done… stole our intelligence… killed all but left me alive…" He couldn't continue, overcome by another coughing fit. Sakura tried hushing him again but to no avail.

"Left me alive… as a warning… not to take missions in that region. Said any Leaf ninja caught in the area would be executed… even if not on a mission." Kiba lapsed into coughs again, curling forward with the violence of them, but this time they refused to subside. Blood leaking out of his mouth in an ever increasing stream, Sakura screamed for an intubation tube. Before she could even begin however, he collapsed backwards, no longer breathing.

* * *

After fifteen minutes of frantic treatment, a doctor forcibly pulled Sakura away from her friend's body. He told the nearby nurse while holding the sobbing girl, "I'm calling time of death, 3:37pm. Suffocation due to fluid accumulation in the lungs." 

"DAMMIT!" Sakura screamed, wrenching herself out of the man's grasp and turning to punch a man sized hole in the wall. With bits of plaster and metal flying everywhere, but mostly into the hallway outside, the ER staff rushed forward to restrain the girl.

"Sakura calm down or you're going to hurt someone!" Realizing what she'd done but unable to stay in the room one more second, she dodged around the staff and rushed out of the hospital with inhuman, shinobi speed.

She didn't get more than a block away though when Naruto practically crashed into her, heading in the direction she was desperately escaping from. Realizing who it was, she threw her arms around her best friend and teammate, sobbing out, "Naruto, Kiba's dead! I tried healing him but I wasn't good enough, I couldn't stop it! I thought he was stabilized but then the fluid, it just wouldn't stop leaking into his lungs… I couldn't save him!"

Hugging the hysterical girl tightly, Naruto cried silent tears of his own at the tragic news. Kiba had been their teammate and friend ever since the failed mission to retrieve Sasuke. In fact Naruto himself had sent Kiba on his last mission… After holding the sobbing girl a few minutes, he asked her softly, "Sakura, can we go to the Hokage's building? You can calm down there and then tell me what happened…" Sakura nodded minutely into Naruto's shoulder. Not even waiting for her to pull away, Naruto bent over a bit and picked her up bridal style, then disappeared into a swirl of fire.

* * *

Reappearing inside his office in the Hokage's building, he walked over and set Sakura down gently on the couch in the corner. Striding across his office, he grabbed the tissue box off his cluttered desk and returned to Sakura. As he kneeled down in front of her and handed the tissue over, he asked "Sakura, I'm going to go find Tsunade, she'll need to hear all about this too. Are you ok for a few minutes?" Sakura nodded, blowing into her tissue and pulling her legs up onto the couch. 

"Ok, I'll be right back then." Naruto reassured her, then hurried out to find the old woman. Making a beeline to her office and marching straight in, he was lucky enough to find her there alone, working on some sort of letter it seemed.

"Tsunade! You and I need to talk to Sakura, Kiba made it back to Konoha somehow but was in the hospital, and Sakura tried to save him but…" he trailed off and paused. "She's really upset at his death, she thinks it's her fault, but we need to find out what happened if he's really the only one to come back from that mission." Naruto thought silently, _'It was an A ranked mission because of the high level political targets, but it was only gathering intelligence! There shouldn't have been any danger for them…'_

Tsunade immediately stood and motioned for Naruto to lead the way. Upon arriving back at his office Tsunade hurried over to the distraught girl and sat down, hugging her tightly to her ample flesh. A fresh bout of tears accompanied Sakura telling Tsunade how sorry she was that she wasn't a good doctor, how she thought he was stabilized but he died anyway, and how she couldn't even save her friend. Tsunade shushed them all while stroking her hair, waiting patiently for the girl's grief to subside. Naruto took the opportunity to leave for a short while, to try and ascertain just how Kiba had shown up at the hospital in the first place.

After a while Sakura seemed to cry herself out, tears slowing to a trickle and sniffling only intermittently. Naruto also returned, apparently successful in his investigation but upset by what he'd learned. Tsunade felt like the time had come where she could question her apprentice, and asked, "Sakura, can you tell me, what was Kiba's condition? How was he injured? I don't want to hurt you, but I need to know what the enemy did to him."

Sakura explained, in a broken, sorrow-filled voice, about the organ removal and blood poisioning, on top of all his other injuries. She explained also how his lungs had been so pummeled and weak that blood pooled in them. How she had raced to heal each tiny alveoli, but even as she moved on to the next, the one she just healed would bleed again. How he eventually drowned because of it.

She also repeated his last words to her, about his mission, its failure, and the warning. The warning sickened her fully as much as her friend's death. She had just witnessed firsthand the increasing threat from the Land of Earth that Tsunade and the Suna ambassador had tried explaining to her to her that very morning. Burning its way through her mind like fire through charcoal, she dwelled on the offer she had so carelessly tossed aside. _There will be more deaths like Kiba's… I can't… I don't… I can't ever see anything like that done to my friends again! I'll do anything! Anything just to never see that kind of cruelty inflicted upon the people I love..'_

Sensing that Sakura was done, Naruto softly spoke, "The guard at the main gate said that Kiba was stumbling down the road to our village, alone and hurt. The guards witnessed this from a distance and rushed to help him to the hospital. He had nothing but the clothes on his back with him, and they didn't see any sign of Akamaru either. Kiba and his team were on an intelligence gathering mission only. It was an A class mission, spying on very high ranking nobles, but it wasn't supposed to be this dangerous…"

Tsunade took up the line of reasoning, "So Iwagakure found out about this mission, and since it was close to their border took the opportunity to extend their reach. They attacked our team and took the scroll with their findings, supposedly to collect our fee and deliver a warning to the hiring lord to send _them_ his business in the future, but left Kiba alive just enough for him to be able to reach us and deliver the news." Tsunade gave Sakura's shoulder one last squeeze, then stood up. "I have to warn all teams anywhere near the Land of Earth of this new threat immediately, and disseminate a general alert to all shinobi of Konoha. Even if their mission is low ranked, they could be in mortal danger."

Tsunade strode out of Naruto's office with purpose and Naruto turned to follow, but Sakura's soft call stayed his steps. "Naruto, wait…" Naruto came to sit beside Sakura on the couch, and looking down at her clasped hands she began hesitantly, "Can you tell me… can you tell me about Gaara?"

Naruto gazed down at his own hands on his thighs, a wise but sad look on his face as he understood what Sakura was thinking, "Gaara… He's a good person. I know what he used to be like when we were young, but after our fight he changed somehow. He doesn't see everyone as an enemy anymore, and he tries to be a better person every day. I know he tried to kill you… but now I don't think he would ever hurt an innocent." Naruto looked out the windows at the clear blue sky beyond, continuing introspectively, "I think he still feels alone though. He's a lot closer to his brother and sister now, so he's not completely alone, but I don't think he believes anyone in the world needs him for himself, and not for his title."

Sakura blew her nose one last time and dried her eyes. "I… I feel ashamed… of how I acted this morning. I was only thinking about myself and my future, and not about anyone else's who might be affected by my choice. Tsunade really does love me, doesn't she? All that happened just now, and she stuck to her word about accepting my decision and didn't mention a thing about Suna or their alliance offer.

"I want to find someone to love and raise a family; I want to make my own future with my friends and family here. But maybe it's not so bad, to give up my dreams for the sake of everyone I love… right? I mean, how hypocritical is it to say you'll die for your village, but won't live for them?" Sakura let out a sad chuckle at the last.

Naruto laid an arm over her shoulders and pulled her close, "Sakura, I want you to be happy. I know what you're thinking, but are you really sure? I won't think any less of you if your answer stays 'No.' To be honest, if it was Hinata…" He trailed off for a moment, then leaned his cheek on the top of Sakura's head. "If it was Hinata, I don't think I could let her go."

Sakura smiled a small smile at her friend's words, but it faded as she voiced her thoughts, "I want to protect you and Hinata and all our friends. I don't want to ever see what happened to Kiba happen to anyone else. And I don't think I could live with myself if I took the easy route and people died, just because I wasn't brave enough to help our village.

"I'm going to ask the Suna ambassador and Tsunade to accept my apology, and tell them that if they're still interested, I've changed my answer to 'Yes.'"

* * *

**Author's note:** Iwagakure ═ Hidden village in the Land of Earth. So… the past few days I've been researching Gaara's character more, to try and develop him in a realistic way. (drooling over how amazingly SEXILICIOUS Gaara is in the manga and anime is research… honestly…) What I really need is information on how his character went from "homicidal maniac" to "responsible Kazekage" because, you know, that's a little bit of a shift… (in fact, it's a BIG FREAKIN' HONKIN' shift that's been holding up my story until I can understand it!) 

… and just like magic, I've found the answer to my problem! Here's a quote of the translated text (translation by Shannaro, I think…) Gaara says to Kankuro in a flashback: "To make a way for oneself through effort… without giving in to loneliness. If I do so… I'll be just like him… Up until now… My relationships with others has been a hatred… a desire to kill. But now… I think I finally understand… what pain and sadness and joy are…what it feels like to understand each other… Uzumaki Naruto… Having fought with him… I feel like he's taught me this… He knew what it felt like to be lonely… and he taught me you can change your life…" All the ellipses come from it being a manga as well as a flashback, I didn't add them I swear! (even though I love ellipses… ☺)

Oh yeah, and the fact that there's actually a greenhouse in Sunagakure for medicines, in canon… ♥LOVE♥ Now I don't have to make it up! Bwahahaha!!!

Next chapter, Panda-chan finally appears! Bring on the Sexiliciousness!!!!!!!


	5. Acceptance

"So, they've tentatively accepted our proposal?"

"Yeah. It was a long shot, but apparently this gamble was worth it." Temari reached up to run a hand through her loose hair and sighed. "They've even agreed to the number of shinobi we were proposing to trade, which I was sure they'd be against. That part of the deal is heavily weighted in our favor." Looking out over the city from the messenger falcon mews, Temari idly wondered which shinobi the Hokage would elect to send to Suna.

Kankuro crossed his arms and followed his sister's gaze. "One of us will have to be a part of this trade. The Hokage is giving up her own daughter, if the Kazekage sends none of his family then we appear uncommitted. I think it should be me."

Temari looked in mild shock at her brother, "Why you? I had planned for it to be me, Gaara needs you here."

Shaking his head, Kankuro replied, "No, he may need me personally, but he needs you both personally and politically. I've stayed out of politics here, but you help him deal with all those senile old men - help him run this country. It can't be you, it has to be me."

Understanding the truth of his words, Temari lowered her head, faint lines of sadness gracing her features. After a moment she reached over and linked arms with her brother, musing in a quiet voice, "We only got to be a real family for a few years huh?"

Kankuro laid a hand over his sister's and squeezed gently, "Every family grows up and goes their separate ways eventually. But I'm sure there will be plenty of 'diplomatic visits' between Suna and Konoha, so it's not like we won't ever be together again."

"Yeah…" Temari sighed. They stood together for several minutes, each lost in their own thoughts of the future, until Temari straightened and stepped away, looking suddenly worried. "You know, we weren't even sure if Konoha would go for this, but now that they have, who's going to be the one to bring the idea to Gaara?"

"Not me! He'd kill me for sure! I don't think Gaara's ever killed a woman, so you should do it." Kankuro exclaimed while backing away from his sister.

"What the hell! Just a second ago you were so self-sacrificing! We don't know if he's ever killed a woman, and besides, he doesn't just kill people on a whim anymore. And the one being sent out of the country is the perfect person to tell him anyway!"

* * *

In the end the siblings compromised and decided to write a letter, and then both be there when it was given to Gaara. Though they didn't _really_ believe either one would be in mortal danger, they figured the chances of him killing them both after reading it were much less than if either was alone. 

With a short rap on the door and a call that they were entering, Temari and Kankuro stepped inside the office of the Kazekage. _'Good, he's only doing minor paperwork at the moment, he should be pretty calm, and a little bored, so hopefully he'll listen to us…'_ Temari thought to herself.

With perfect calm, Gaara set his pen down and asked his siblings, "Yes?"

Temari took a deep breath, then stepped forward and handed their short letter to Gaara. Managing to suppress the nervousness in her voice, she asked steadily, "Gaara, please read this letter in its entirety, and consider all the political ramifications of it before doing anything… rash. I'm asking as your sister and as your Chief of Staff." Stepping back to stand even with Kankuro, they both affected the stance of a soldier at attention, looking straight ahead without any emotion.

Gaara began to read, a frown steadily deepening on his face and his brows knitting together in agitation. Finishing the letter and setting it down on his desk before standing, the older siblings began hearing the hiss of sand coming from behind Gaara's chair, where he usually set his gourd when working. Tendrils started to swirl around Gaara's body, increasing in volume as the remainder of his gourd of sand dissolved and became airborne.

Temari and Kankuro's straightforward gaze became strained, their eyes widening minutely, and unexpected shivers ran up both their spines. But just as Temari opened her mouth to beg for understanding, Gaara held up two fingers in a seal and disappeared into a swirl of sand.

"Well… that didn't go so bad…"

* * *

Gaara arrived on the top of the Kazekage's administrative building, angry at his siblings but perhaps not for the reason they expected. _'What the hell were they doing, sneaking backdoor diplomatic alliances around without my knowledge!'_ Perhaps he could see _why_ they might be reticent to bring this particular option forward to him since it concerned him so intimately, but still. Going to the Hokage directly without his consent was a major breach in the chain of command, and even if the alliance was only agreed upon in the most nascent of stages it was still insubordination. 

But he had retreated to this rooftop terrace, despite his anger at their actions, in respect to his sibling's request that he consider the proposal in its entirety. He could mull over their punishments later.

His council he could understand backing this, but he was shocked at his brother and sister's involvement. They had always stayed away from the topic and respected Gaara's wishes. The Council of Elders had been subtly hinting that he should take a wife ever since he turned 18, and since he'd turned 20 that subtlety had been let go for more blatant pressuring. He'd ignored it at first, and later had used his formidable reputation to simply glare down those foolish enough to try and push the point. Gaara knew there were many women who would readily acquiesce to marrying the Kazekage, but their affection wouldn't extend beyond the title he held. Before he'd become Kazekage, those same girls would run away at the mere sight of him, and the thought of marrying such fickle women made him sick.

_'At least with an arranged marriage there would be no pretense.'_ Each one of them would know exactly why and on what terms their relationship would be structured. _'Haruno Sakura…supposedly the best medic-nin in Konoha next to her adopted mother, the Hokage. She never ran from me, even when she had ample reason to…'_ His thoughts drifted back to his fight years ago with his now-friend Naruto. How Sakura's willingness to die protecting the people she cared about had caused him to lash out in insane fury at her. How Naruto's feelings had been the same, and his defeat at Naruto's hands had begun to show him that caring for others had rewards that no amount of killing would bring.

Gaara pondered the fact that if the council alone had brought this proposal to him he would have dismissed it out of hand, and possibly the messenger out his office window. But years of hard-won trust had been risked by his siblings when they had stepped into the picture. He knew they loved him, and because of them he had finally learned what it meant to love those bound to you by blood. _'Despite their presumptuousness, to propose I marry the daughter of the Hokage, and for Kankuro to leave Suna altogether… They must truly believe that this is the best thing for all of us. Our political situation is certainly dire enough for such drastic measures.' _

_'Me… with a wife and children… I've never heard of anything more ridiculous…'_ Bitterness tinted his laughter at this thought a tone far removed from humor, but his mirth was short lived, as Gaara's eyes turned down, half closed, in sadness. _'There's no love in an arranged marriage, but perhaps at least my children will love me… need me… for myself, and not for my power or title… I never expected to find a woman who would truly love me anyway.'_

_'Setting aside the personal issues, what could this mean for Sunagakure?'_ Gaara pondered the full political implications and came to a simple conclusion. '_This alliance could replace the assuredness of war and death with hope for prosperity in our future.' _

With that final thought, Gaara left his peaceful terrace to give his siblings their answer.

* * *

Within the day, and for the next several days, Suna and Konoha furiously negotiated the final details of the alliance. Both Kages wished to act quickly, before their enemies could learn about this threat and mobilize an offense against it. The most easily mobilized threat of all was of course assassination, and all major players in the alliance were put under round-the-clock protection by their respective ANBU corps. Gaara being Kazekage was always under threat of assassination _anyway_, and declined to waste any ANBU guards on himself. The protests of his council were quickly silenced when he ordered ANBU guarding others at the session to attack him with anything they had. After demonstrating his sand shield without batting an eye at the failed attacks, he asked pointedly which one of them would volunteer for his demonstration of Desert Funeral. 

Sakura was having a rather harder time however. Despite being Naruto's second in command of ANBU herself, the Hokage ordered her to be guarded around the clock. Naruto himself volunteered for her night shift, their long acquaintance making him one of the few she would be comfortable sleeping around. Naruto also chose Hyuuga Neji to take Sakura's evening shift, and Nara Shikamaru the day.

Change was happening at lightening pace, and Sakura stood at the epicenter of it all not knowing just how to feel from one moment to the next. Annoyance at the guard, even if they were longtime friends, warred with terror of when they would no longer be needed. Excitement at being essential and needed by her village was accompanied by despair for leaving them forever. When Sakura had first heard from the Hokage that Gaara had accepted their alliance, and thus agreed to accept her hand in marriage, she had felt seemingly every emotion at once, and tears had accompanied a shocked gasp and frivolous laughter as she finally settled for throwing her arms around her adopted mother.

Having recovered somewhat from the shock, Sakura now stood dumbly in the middle of her living room, gazing at some unseen point with unfocused eyes. Shikamaru stood by, nonchalantly leaning against the wall but subtly observing her. _'She just heard the news of Suna's acceptance a couple of hours ago, but the reality of the situation is only now sinking in. Perhaps a distraction is in order, so she can focus on something else for a moment or two.'_

Shikamaru stepped forward to interrupt her introspection, saying, "Sakura, the Hokage asked us to start packing your things, and the boxes have already been delivered outside, but we can do whatever you want right now. Do you want to get something to eat? Or maybe visit Asuma for a game of shogi?"

The interruption was enough to jostle Sakura out of her reverie, and she shook her head, replying, "No… I'm really not that hungry. And we can't tell anyone not involved what's happening yet…"

"Ok. Would you like to pack then?" he inquired, subtly guiding her along.

"Yeah… that would probably be best…" But she made no move to do so, instead seeming to re-enter her trance-like state.

_'Ok…'_ Seeing how she wasn't likely to be led along easily, he looked around her sparse living and dining space. _'A few pieces of furniture, a tv, some plants, those won't be going unless they're some sort of family heirloom. A few bookshelves, those she'll probably want to pack. Her apartment is just one bedroom, so personal items from her bedroom and bathroom, and half that stuff probably won't go either. That just leaves the kitchen… should be a fairly neutral place to start.'_ Shikamaru stepped closer to her, trying again, "Sakura, why don't we start packing your kitchen? I'll get the boxes, you start gathering the items you want to pack into one area, and the ones you want to leave in another."

Thus did they start sorting through Sakura's meager things. There were a few favored cooking utensils, two favorite coffee mugs (one of which said "A morning without coffee is like something without something else") and all her cooking spices and hot chocolate. Her other plates, cups, and pans had never been anything special, and she figured her new home would have nicer things. _'My new home… what I really mean is, _Gaara's_ home, the _Kazekage's_ home, which I'll be sharing way too soon…'_ Sakura paused in packing, clutching a bottle of vanilla beans to her chest, but valiantly steadied herself when she felt Shikamaru's questioning gaze on her.

Smiling weakly, she returned Shikamaru's look and thought aloud, "Ah ha ha… I hope that the Kazekage has better dishes than I do, but I guess if he doesn't he can probably afford to buy new ones…"

Attempting to steer her thoughts away from the upsetting thread they were obviously down, Shikamaru looked back down to their almost finished kitchen packing and asked, "We're almost done here, what room would you like to move on to next? We could pack your books…"

"Yeah…" Sakura sighed unenthusiastically, placing the last of her spices in the box and taping it shut.

They made it through Sakura's living room, books, and all her hanging pictures, finally arriving at her bedroom. Sakura didn't hesitate to walk in, but Shikamaru paused at the doorway before following her. A person's bedroom was always their last refuge of total privacy, and even with permission it felt… uncomfortable... to enter. As he looked around, gauging what they would have to pack and how many boxes to retrieve, Sakura went straight in and gently picked up a picture frame by the window. Sitting down on her bed with it, she let her hair fall over her face as she contemplated whatever was depicted there.

_'Oh no…She's probably crying, I never know what to do when women cry… I just want to say anything as long as they stop…'_ Not knowing how to comfort her better, Shikamaru walked over and tentatively sat down next to her. From there he could see the picture sitting loosely in her hands was of her original Team 7, before Sasuke had defected, but he couldn't think of anything to say.

Glancing up at Shikamaru through a veil of pink, he was surprised to see her eyes were still dry as she said, "I don't love him anymore like I used to when we were young. He's hurt us too many times to sustain that kind of love. But I still love him as a friend and teammate. I still want to rescue him from the darkness he's fallen into. I guess, maybe now, I'll never get that chance…"

At this she suddenly turned to Shikamaru and threw her arms around his neck, sobbing. _'Wha… _now_ she starts crying?? What happened to before!'_ the young man panicked. Sakura took no note of his awkwardness as he draped an arm around her and attempted to be comforting. _'Naruto's the one who knows what to do in this situation, couldn't she wait for him to get here?!'_

"Oh Shika, I'm _scared_! I'm leaving you and Naruto and Ino and everyone else behind! I'm going to the desert to marry someone I barely know and who even tried to kill me once, and I'll be all alone! Everyone else in the exchange will be a stranger, I don't want any of my friends to give up Konoha either, but couldn't someone come with me? I don't know if I can do this alone! I'm so scared!" Sakura sobbed her breaking heart into her friends shoulder as he tried rubbing her back in a reassuring way.

_'Ack! This is bad! Stop… it's ok… stop crying!'_ All his powerful intellect torn down by one crying woman, Shikamaru stuttered out loud, "Sakura… it's ok… it's ok… you won't be alone… I'll be with you… it's ok… you're not going to be alone… stop crying…"

Sakura looked up from his shoulder, face streaked with tears, and asked brokenly, "R-really? Shika, you're g-going too?? Y-you're really going too??"

_'Uh-oh…'  
_

* * *

_'It wouldn't be that bad in Suna… one place is just like another. And Suna takes __midday__ siestas _every day_...'_ Not to mention a certain troublesome, forceful, vivacious blond lived in Suna… one whose smile he'd been dreaming about when gazing at clouds far too often lately. One whose smile he wanted to see again like one scratched an itch – pesky when left alone, but heavenly when scratched. He glanced over at the freshly scrubbed Sakura as they walked back to the Hokage's building, noting that only someone who knew her very well would be able to tell she'd been crying at all. _'I'll just have to ask Tsunade to let me join. She might not, but I can't even _think_ about telling Sakura what I said was a mistake. I'd have to have no pride as a man to do something that low.'_

They made their way up to the Hokage's office and Shizune showed them in. Thankfully, Tsunade _hadn't_ been sleeping at her desk again, but there was a rather large sake bottle perched next to her hand as she read some bit of correspondence. Shikamaru tried to calculate, _'Is it good or bad if the Hokage is a little sloshed?'_

Shikamaru explained why they were there, asking simply that he be allowed to be one of the three to go with Sakura on the exchange. Tsunade looked shocked for a minute, then laughed heartily.

_'It's probably bad…'_

"I was going to ask for volunteers today from my highly ranked shinobi, but I've got two out of three already! Are you guys all so ready to leave the Konoha we love? Hyuuga Neji was just in here _demanding_ that he be one of the three! Seems he's sensed his chance to get away from the oppressive Hyuuga clan and wants to wrestle his freedom from them. The way things have been with that family lately, I'm inclined to think he might run off and start his own clan even if I said no! At least this way he'd be under the control of an ally nation, instead of ending up god knows where!

"Your request is accepted!" She slapped down the paper she'd been holding and downed what Shikamaru thought must have been half the bottle of sake before slamming it down as well. Sakura turned to Shikamaru and hugged him thankfully.

Shikamaru, for his part, finally thought he might understand what it felt like to be a pawn in his favorite game. Looking upwards to the ceiling and sighing wearily, he wondered how a supposed genius could maneuver himself into this position.

* * *

Tsunade had obliged Shikamaru's request for her to accompany him when he explained his "decision", and though his family was understandably broken up about his leaving Konoha to become a Suna shinobi, Tsunade managed to convince them of the life-threateningly vital nature of this alliance. 

After locating Neji, Sakura and Shikamaru accompanied Tsunade to the Hyuuga clan residence for a decidedly more… colorful announcement of Neji's assignment. Tsunade's temper eventually snapped at the clan's vehement objections, and a smoking hole 5 strides wide in the middle of their assembly room and a near death threat to the clan's father were the results. Tsunade insisted the clan elders remove his branch family seal _immediately_, while she waited, or _she_ would unseal it herself. And _her_ unsealing would travel back to every single family member Neji was related to by blood.

Finally waking up to the legendary Sannin's threats, they performed the unsealing ritual. At the end Neji lost consciousness, and as Sakura and Shikamaru each slung one of his arms over their shoulders, Tsunade delivered the most scorching dressing down to the Hyuuga family Sakura had ever heard. Questioning their loyalty to Konoha, their selfishness, and the cruelty they meted out so readily to their own family, Tsunade sarcastically wondered how they thought they could continue the status quo _without_ members of the clan defecting. She finished by reiterating that Neji was _not_ betraying either his clan or Konoha by being a part of this alliance, but keeping all of them safe from the looming threats posed by Earth and Sound. Glaring around the room and finally seeming too disgusted with the company to continue, Tsunade stormed out, Sakura and Shikamaru following shortly behind.

As they carried Neji along, Shikamaru stared at the symbol for "gamble" embroidered on the Hokage's back and thought privately, _'What a scary temper! She's the most troublesome woman I've _ever_ met.'_

Oblivious to his unkind thoughts, Tsunade strutted along proudly, then turned and triumphantly stated, "Now we just need one!"

* * *

In the end Tsunade had started talking to high ranking shinobi individually, asking for volunteers. She got her final "team member" in the form of one Aburame Shino, who when asked why he agreed said simply, "For the safety of Konoha, it's the best course." 

Having worked out the hardest part of the alliance, Tsunade sent word to the Kazekage that all arrangements on their end would be completed within the week.

Gaara estimated his party would arrive in Konoha at the same time.

* * *

**Author's note:** I've uploaded a side story about Sakura acquiring her chakra storing mark (which we haven't seen yet.) It's a short humor/crackfic, but you might enjoy it! Check it out on my account, it's called Chakra Focus. 

Horray for Shika falling into going to Suna accidentally! He has zero motivation, so I honestly couldn't think of another reason he would go, but I REALLY wanted him to be part of the team. (rock on Shika x Temari!) Neji was a natural, but the third member of the team was trouble. I had no idea who else to have go, I wanted to use another canon character, and Shino seemed like the last guy who I even vaguely liked (and didn't have future plans for), so... yeah.

I pretty much spent my weekend downloading all the Rescue Gaara manga arc, plus a few after it, and drooling over beautiful Gaara artwork on deviantart. I also read a few more fics to see how other author's dealt with Gaara's character growth as he aged. Some opted for lots of insanity, some just a little. What's weird though is that I haven't found a single instance of Gaara acting insane in canon after his fight with Naruto. He's just a side character (•sobs• after chapter like 281 he hasn't appeared again), so we don't get to see a lot of his life, but it's like before the fight – insane, bloodthirsty, kills easily. After the fight - completely held together, calm, fights with purpose. Switch – flip.

I'm finding it hard to see where the balance is between the two. I don't want to depict him completely like he is in canon, his barely-leased violence is one of the things that make him so alluring. But too insane and I feel like his character drifts too far from his canon depiction to be believable. So what to do? If I take a little longer producing these first few chapters with Gaara, please forgive me.

I'd like to also say that I LOVE all the Sand Sibs, but for the plot one of them had to go. At least this time they didn't die right? •laughs weakly• You have to be merciless with characters! Merciless! SabakuSoso! (p.s. I love Kiba too, but… well… _someone_ had to die… )


	6. Arrival and Departure

Week's end saw the formal announcement of the alliance to Konoha's citizenry, in preparation for the Kazekage's arrival the next morning. Shock was too mild a word for the reaction of Sakura's friends, who immediately upon hearing about her marriage accosted her with tears, well wishes, anger, and comfort, depending on their personality. With the arrival of her betrothed imminent, her friends rushed off to start preparations for a going-away-well-wishes party, before Sakura was whisked away.

Kakashi had returned from his mission in the week they had been preparing and packing, and had volunteered to take up two of Sakura's guard shifts. Once two of her guards had become members of the exchange, they had been removed from their duty and assigned guards of their own, much to their displeasure.

Kakashi kept her company through the day as Sakura helped the Konoha party prepare for their trip to Suna. Her marriage was going to be held in Sunagakure, but Tsunade, Shizune, Kakashi, and several members of Konoha's ruling council as well as any friends of the exchange members who wanted to come were all invited. The entire affair was turning into quite a procession, and Gaara's messengers had said the party would probably take a week to reach the Village Hidden in the Sand. With a week's travel to and from, and three days for the wedding ceremony itself, there was quite a lot of packing to do.

Sakura was helping Tsunade pack her official Hokage robes, and several elegant outfits for the partying both before and after the ceremony. Kakashi had already finished his own packing and was reading in the living room while he waited for the two women. Sakura had already arranged for wagons transporting their goods to come by each person's house tomorrow morning, and the other members of the exchange had all their personal items packed and ready to load.

"Tsunade, this one is _beautiful_…" Sakura marveled as she held up a dress that faded from pale blue to pastel yellow as it swirled upwards through many folds.

"I plan on wearing that one to the reception after your wedding." She commented as she looked up from folding. Staring at Sakura intently for a moment, she set down her shirt and stepped over to Sakura's side. Taking her shoulders in her hands, she spoke tenderly, "Tomorrow morning, you should wear your full ANBU uniform to meet the Kazekage."

Surprised, she asked, "But why? Isn't that a little… aggressive? And it's not exactly the kind of thing one wears to a diplomatic function…"

Squeezing her shoulders tightly, Tsunade seemed to be trying to control her emotions. Her voice thick, she answered, "I want you to know that no matter what happens, you will always be my daughter, and I will always love you. There's one more ceremony that I haven't told you about, and it's going to happen tomorrow before we leave. It's a Konoha ceremony… You need to say your goodbyes to anyone not traveling with us tonight. I hear that your friends Ino and Hinata are arranging a beautiful party for all of you even as we speak."

Sakura's bewilderment was evident on her face, and Tsunade pulled her adopted daughter into a fierce hug rather than look at her innocent, questioning eyes. Continuing softly, she said, "The Kazekage and I have already worked out all the diplomatic niceties, so tomorrow's functions will be streamlined down to the minimum necessary. As soon as we greet the Kazekage and his entourage, we will head to the exhibition grounds where the last round of the Chunin exams were held. A ninja can't belong to two villages – before you can become a shinobi of the Land of Wind, your status as a shinobi of the Land of Fire must end."

"Tomorrow the Kazekage will stand witness to your expulsion ceremony."

* * *

Sakura, Neji, Shikamaru, and Shino's going away party was quite an affair, going on late into the night. Most of the partygoers avoided indulging too much, as they were also going to be traveling to Suna the next morning, but Naruto managed to overdo it just a bit. Shouting to the world exactly _how_ much he loved Hinata, and wouldn't she become his wife, resulted in much laughter and one unconscious Hinata. 

Lee eventually brought the party to and end with his Drunken Fists, those present being too far gone to keep Lee from ingesting any liqueur. Fortunately for Lee and the guests of honor, Jiraya promised to pick up the tab for the party hall's damages. He was too drunk to realize what he was agreeing to, but Naruto told the others it was just karma coming back on him.

Sakura thus found herself waking to Kakashi's gentle shaking at the crack of dawn, just a hair hung over. "Go away… parrot-headed freak…" she grumbled, batting at his hands.

"Now now, Sakura, you need to get up." He chided as he avoided her flailing hands and continued to shake her shoulder.

"All right, all right already!" Sitting up and rubbing her eyes wearily, she looked at how fresh Kakashi seemed and frowned. "How are _you_ ok this morning? You drank more alcohol than I did!"

He smiled an indulgent smile, saying simply, "Well, I _have_ been doing this longer than you have…"

She groaned and looked disgusted, "Ugh, just get out of here so I can get ready…"

Dragging herself off to the shower, she scrubbed off any lingering scent of alcohol or smoke with soap and burning hot water. _'I guess I won't be able to shower quite like this in Suna, a desert environment doesn't allow such luxuries…'_ Stepping out and toweling off, she carefully dried and fixed her hair.

Dressed in her ANBU best, Sakura strapped on the last of her kunai and examined how she looked in the mirror. Taking a deep breath, she thought to herself, _'Today is the first day of the rest of my life.'_ Pleased with the resolve she saw reflected back at her, she strapped her ANBU mask over her freshly washed hair and went to meet Kakashi at the door.

Kakashi walked quietly with Sakura to meet the rest of the reception party at the main gates, its doors thrown wide open for the day. They spotted the rest of the exchange members, but the Hokage herself had not yet arrived. Stopping a short distance away from the others, Kakashi turned to his protégé and gripped her shoulders. Looking at her masked face seriously, he told her, "Sakura, I'll see you again shortly, I'll be waiting for you all with the caravan going to Suna ok? I want you to know, I've never been so proud of you."

His single visible eye holding back tears, Sakura reached up and gave her mentor a quick but fierce hug. "Thank you, Kakashi-sensei." Releasing him and stepping back, she slowly turned away and walked to join Shikamaru and the others.

* * *

Tsunade arrived shortly after Kakashi left, dressed in her formal Hokage robes. Standing at the center of the gate, her four shinobi arrayed behind her, they patiently waited for the Kazekage's party to arrive. 

"Are you prepared for what is about to happen?" Tsunade asked of no one in particular, not bothering to turn around.

Neji was the first to answer with an unqualified "Yes." The others answered in the affirmative, though Sakura's 'Yes' was almost too quiet to hear.

After the sun had traveled another hour into the sky, the party began to see the approaching entourage. Growing from a mere speck on the horizon, Sakura realized as they approached they must be riding horseback. Eventually she was able to discern at the head of the group a man in white robes, riding the blackest horse Sakura had ever seen. His head was bent forward and his official headdress pulled down so far over his brow that she could see nothing of the smooth skin or fiery red hair that she knew resided under it. _'Gaara…'_

Behind him rode what appeared to be four other heads-of-state, as well as a small caravan of riderless horses and two wagons. One wagon Sakura found especially curious, since it seemed to carry nothing but barrels. _'That must be the horse's food. How much do horses eat anyway? Are those spare horses for us?'_

Eventually the Kazekage came within a polite distance of the gates and dismounted in one smooth flourish. The rest of his party dismounted a moment later, but stayed with their horses while the Kazekage approached the Hokage alone. His head finally lifting to where Sakura could see his face, she was more than a little shocked at how he had matured, and was glad for the inscrutable ANBU mask she wore.

He seemed to have grown half a head taller than she, and his face had lost much of its childlike roundness. Piercing green eyes still ringed with black looked on the Konoha party impassively, studying each in turn before settling on Tsunade. Sakura's thoughts whirled in her head at this first sighting of her betrothed, _'He's a grown man now, but he seems less fearsome than when he was a boy. His eyes have lost… hatred.'_

Tsunade broke the silence, "Greetings Kazekage-sama, and welcome to Konohagakure. I hope your trip was… uneventful."

Gaara spoke, his voice a mellifluous bass as it reached Sakura's ears. "Greetings Hokage-sama, and thank you for the welcome. Our journey was quite peaceful."

Smiling a perfunctory, diplomatic smile at the Kage, Tsunade then gestured with a broad sweep of her arm to the gates of Konoha behind her and spoke, "I, Tsunade, formally invite the Kazekage of Sunagakure and his honored guests into our village of Konoha. Whatever hospitality we can offer you we will gladly deliver."

The Kazekage nodded his head in acknowledgement, and with his acceptance the other four officials of his entourage moved to give over their horses to the wagon drivers. Gaara returned to his own horse, but rather than giving it over to the wagon drivers as well, he walked the stallion over to the edge of the road and spoke to it softly. Draping the reins over his back loosely, Gaara simply left the horse alone and walked away, much to Sakura's astonishment.

Standing again in front of Tsunade, with his officials behind him, he asked, "Please lead the way, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade turned smartly and walked through the middle of her shinobi, with each of the four turning to follow her in two pairs of two. Gaara, walking behind the group, could now easily tell which one was his future wife, pink hair peeking out of the black bandanna that undoubtedly strapped her hitai-ite to her forehead. _'So that's her… She wears the outfit of her profession well. Besides her medical abilities, I wonder what other skills she's acquired to become such a high ranking member of Konoha's ANBU. She was such a weak girl, years ago…'_ Gaara felt a twinge of regret working its way up through his feelings at the memory of his attempted murder, but pushed it aside.

Leading them straight to the exhibition grounds, the group found themselves watched silently from the sides of the road. The mass of spectators became more dense as they approached their goal, but the crowd was eerily silent. Konoha citizens knew what was about to happen, and even though it was for the benefit of their village, they couldn't cheer for the loss of the four well-known and respected ninja.

Walking up the stairs and into the open arena, Gaara felt memories of his last visit to this place rushing back. _'If I could only tell the boy I was then of what the future held for him… but if I had never come to this arena, and never fought Naruto Uzumaki…'_ But Gaara was interrupted in his reverie by Tsunade's abrupt halt.

Commanding her shinobi to arrange themselves in front of her, she took a deep breath, all final traces of emotion on her face replaced with steely resolve. Gaara's party stood behind the Hokage, though Gaara stepped up to stand beside Tsunade, taking his place as witness.

Tsunade began, "The four of you, elite members of Konoha's ninja corps, have volunteered to leave your home to become ninja of the Land of Wind. You have volunteered to sever all ties of fealty to the Land of Fire and abandon all loyalty to the place of your birth. If this is the truth, remove your masks and show your faces now. If you have instead been forced or coerced into this action, leave now and your status as a Konoha shinobi will be protected."

All four exchange members reached and slowly removed their masks, letting them drop to the dirt below and staring straight forward. At this, Tsunade walked over to Neji, who stood on the far right. Ripping the hitai-ite off his forehead in one quick, violent gesture, she dropped it to the dirt as well.

"Hyuuga Neji…" she began, reciting the formal words of expulsion from the ranks of Konoha's citizenry and shinobi. Tsunade traveled next to Shikamaru, then Shino, finally reaching Sakura who stood on the far left.

Showing no trace of emotion in voice or expression, Tsunade tore the hitai-ite from her hair and began for the final time, "Haruno Sakura. Your last standing order from your Hokage is to kill the Kazekage of Suna, should he betray our alliance. You are hereby stricken from the records of Konoha's shinobi; never again will this village be recognized as your home. Should you visit without permission and proper authority, you will be treated as an enemy-nin and arrested. You have until sunset to leave."

At this the Hokage simply turned her back on the four and walked out of the arena, never looking back. They were expected to leave the boundaries of the village immediately, but years of excruciating ninja training helped Sakura only to keep standing. Sakura almost felt grateful for Tsunade's turned back as tears slid openly down her cheeks. Almost… _'Tsunade… mother…'_

The Suna delegation stood silently before the banished nin, though Gaara came to stand in front of Sakura. In a gesture of appreciation for their sacrifice that day, he bowed to her. Seeing their Kazekage bow low, the delegation members fell to their knees and pressed their foreheads to the ground. Bowing again to her fellow outcasts, Gaara rose gracefully and extended his hand to Sakura.

Wondering what on earth he meant by the gesture but thinking it rude to just stand there, she hesitantly placed her hand in his. His warm hand gently embraced her smaller one and pulled her closer. He spoke quietly to her as his other hand brushed away her tears, "In the desert you cannot afford to lose such precious water."

Too surprised at the unexpected tenderness he had just shown her to think anything of the words he'd said, Sakura's tears stopped. Apparently pleased at this, Gaara stepped away from her a bit but still kept her hand in his own. Taking strength from the simple human contact, Sakura looked up at the Kazekage, his face turned away now, and thought, _'This is the first day of the rest of my life, and I vow to never cry for myself again…_' Making his way to the exit, he quietly led Sakura and the rest away.

* * *

**Author's note:** Greetings all, this chapter took so much longer to produce than prior ones, I'm still having a hard time coming to grips with how Gaara should be. I've got a pretty good idea of what I want to do plotwise, it's just tackling this whole Gaara thing that's killing me. 

If you want to read a story that handles Gaara _extremely_ well, check out Midnight Tears by Kodukadvakch. More than ten years my junior, this young woman's natural talent for writing stories eclipses many professional writers I have enjoyed in the past. She's also been a great inspiration to me to continue, saying in an author's note that "Waiting for 'inspiration' is a joke. You don't wait for ideas, you _make_ them." Every time I feel like slacking off, I think of her words and then put my head down and get on with it. (maybe I end up slacking off sometimes anyway, but hey, I do have a full time job here… ☺)

I'm still feeling the pangs of betalessness… I can reread what I've written many times, but I still feel too close to the words to be able to objectively view the picture I'm painting. So please point out any grammar mistakes you find, or even style mistakes (eg, repeating words or phrases, scene changes that don't make sense, general cornballishness, etc.)


	7. Journey

The crowds lining the street had remained, and stepping out the doorway of the arena Sakura suddenly felt very self-conscious in the hand of the Kazekage. She attempted to pull away and drop Gaara's hand, but to her immense surprise he held on tenaciously. Leaning over slightly as he walked, Gaara whispered to her, "Let your countrymen see us united together, this will be the only chance for many of them to understand the nature of Suna and Konoha's alliance."

Nodding silently, Sakura acquiesced. They continued to walk together until one brave villager stepped forward with a small bouquet of flowers and handed them to Sakura. Refusing to release her yet, Sakura was forced to take the gift one handed. She cradled flowers in her left arm while kindly thanking the villager for their well wishes. Gaara indicated they should keep moving, but as they walked on an increasing number of flowers began being offered to the exiled nin, until all four of them had armfuls overflowing with fragrant blossoms.

Sakura felt she might break her freshly made vow to not cry for herself anymore when a little girl no older than three stepped forward and handed Sakura a single dandelion blossom. Her left arm already full and her right being held determinedly by Gaara, Sakura looked at the girl sadly, not knowing what to do.

Noticing her predicament, Gaara solved her dilemma by stepping forward and kneeling down in front of the child. With his right hand he patted her gently on the head, and delicately took the proffered blossom from her hands. Thanking her before she ran back to her mother, Gaara stood and turned to face Sakura. Instead of piling the tiny flower on her already overflowing arm, he tucked it behind her left ear. Sakura felt herself blushing as his hand brushed her cheek, and while she stared into black-rimmed green eyes she thought, _'Tenderness… I never thought someone whose name means 'self-loving carnage' would be able to show tenderness…'_

Continuing on, they finally arrived at the gates they had left so short a time ago. They came to a stop, and squeezing his hand tightly, Sakura looked up at Gaara with eyes that silently asked permission to be set free. Gaara returned Sakura's stare with an oblique look that she could not quite make out, but he released her hand nonetheless.

The party walked well past the village's huge entryway, toward the assembled caravans awaiting them. Observing the activity, Sakura felt surprised at the sheer number of people and wagons, especially for the Konoha party. _'Geesh, did _anyone_ I know decide not to come?'_ There appeared to be two wagons meant to do nothing but carry people on the journey, with another one for their luggage. The Suna party too had grown in size by two wagons, each loaded with what must be the exiles possessions. Sakura also saw as they approached the Suna group that the riderless horses had been tacked and saddled for them, though she felt a distinct nervousness settle in her stomach at the thought of riding. She had never done so before.

Gaara led the four over to their horses. Taking a white mare with brown spots from the wagon hand, he said, "Please hand your gifts to Shin," motioning to the man sitting astride the other wagon. The four freed their hands of the flowery appreciation Konoha had bestowed on them and returned, though as they approached Sakura noticed Gaara's eyes flash briefly to the little yellow flower she had decided to keep. Pausing before continuing, he asked, "How many of you have ever ridden a horse?"

Shikamaru and Neji both responded positively, but Sakura and Shino never had. Taking this in, Gaara spoke, "These horses have been given to you by four noble clans of Suna. Horses are a proud tradition for the clans of the desert, and for the trip back to Sunagakure they will be your responsibility to take care of. If you don't feel that you'll be able to handle their ownership, you'll be able to give them back without offense when we reach the city."

Asking Sakura and Shino to step forward, he briefly explained what the various parts of the tack were and how they worked, then demonstrated how to mount, hold the reins, and dismount. Motioning Sakura to approach and mount the mare, trepidation filled her eyes, but she managed to take her seat without incident. Gaara handed her the reins and asked her to remain where she was until everyone else was mounted.

Sakura watched as Gaara walked a few steps away and let out an ear piercing whistle. _'What on earth…?'_ but her question was answered when the black stallion he had ridden earlier trotted directly up to him. Patting the horse on the neck affectionately, he smoothly took his own seat, his advisors and the other exchange members following his example.

Gaara trotted the stallion over to the Konoha party to check their status, but fortunately they seemed to be nearly done. He spoke to Tsunade for a moment as she directed the final preparations before approaching his group again. Walking his horse over to stand beside Sakura, he asked an advisor named Hoshimaru to take the reins of Shino's horse as he took Sakura's. Explaining briefly, he stated, "I'll lead you as we leave, there will be plenty of time on the trip to instruct you on how to guide your horse."

Relieved that she would not immediately be expected to master riding, Sakura let out a small sigh and smiled her thanks to Gaara. Her smiling countenance caused a strange, tingling sensation to rise in his chest, but he quickly looked away.

Finally, the last preparations were finished, and Tsunade signaled to Gaara that they were ready. With Sakura by his side, Gaara led their caravans down the long road to the Land of Wind.

* * *

'_Oh my God, I think I'm going to go crazy from the silence… SAY SOMETHING TO HIM! Anything!'_ They'd been riding for over an hour, and Sakura could hear the friendly chattering of her friends, further back in the caravan, and longed to join them. But she was tethered to the Kazekage and at the leading edge of the caravan, well away from conversing distance with anyone. At least, anyone who might have shown an inclination to put even two words together. _ 'Ask about those lessons on riding he mentioned earlier, or when we'll stop for lunch, or where we'll be making camp tonight, or…'_

"Gaara what happened to your gourd?" she suddenly blurted out. _'Oh my God, where the _hell_ did that come from! Why couldn't I have just kept my mouth shut!'_ To keep her hands from flying up to her mouth in mortification, she gripped the pommel of the saddle harder and tried to school her face to look mildly curious.

Gaara had been riding in much the same way as when he had first approached the gates of Konoha – head down, eyes closed, and headdress pulled low – but at her questioning the black pools opened and green eyes focused rather intently on her. "Not even Shêtân could carry my weight along with the sand for such an extensive journey. Besides, I usually do not carry the gourd while wearing the robes of office."

Confused that he would willingly travel without his namesake, Sakura felt compelled to ask, "So you left it behind?"

"No, it is possible we will be attacked on this journey," he replied. Before she could continue her line of questioning however, he changed the subject by asking, "Would you like to learn how to guide your horse now? If we are attacked you must know at least the basics of riding to avoid being thrown."

So did proceed the rest of the morning and into the afternoon before they stopped for lunch, Sakura learning how to stop and start, lead left and right, walk, trot, and gallop. The horse they had picked for her was rather placid and accommodating however, so it wasn't a great challenge. She glanced over at the large black Gaara rode, who when the Kazekage was absent seemed to have an air of wildness about him, and felt grateful for her calm little mare.

They traveled uneventfully for the rest of the day, finally finding a clearing on the side of the road to make camp for the night. With so many people to gather wood, a large bonfire was built in the center, with Suna and Konoha and exiles all gathering together to enjoy the mild summer night. There was no division made between the groups as they pitched their tents, and Sakura couldn't resist the opportunity to bunk with her friend Ino.

Having changed into her sleep clothes, Sakura wrote in her new journal by the light of the bonfire as her friend finished her nightly routine.

Curious about her activity, Ino questioned as she brushed her hair, "Sakura, I didn't know you kept a journal?"

"I never have before… I guess I just wanted to write all this down, you know? This is the first day of the rest of my life, after all…" She softly replied, not looking up from the pages now filled with writing. She wrote a couple more sentences, then reached up to the little flower still tucked behind her ear and removed it carefully. Looking quite wilted but otherwise ok, she contemplated the gift for a moment before tucking it carefully between the pages at the back of her journal.

"I'm happy you're bunking with me, but shouldn't you, you know, be with the Suna delegates?" her friend inquired, now laying down on her side and watching Sakura.

"No, I'm not actually part of any village right now, remember? I don't really want to be bunking with guys… and Gaara doesn't sleep, he hasn't even set up a tent… Not that I would bunk with him anyway! How inappropriate! Haha!" Sakura's gaze was fixed out the flap of the tent to the bonfire beyond, but there was no sign of the Kazekage.

Ino observed her friend as her thoughts dwelled on what she'd said. "But that means that even married, you'll have to go to bed alone _every_ night…" she mused aloud sadly.

At her words Sakura's eyes snapped to her friend's face, pain etched in the purse of her mouth and wrinkle of her brow. "Let's not talk about the marriage, ok? I want this week of traveling with everyone to be happy…"

"Ok… what's the girliest girly thing that we'd stay up late as children talking about? Dolls, makeup, unicorns…" Ino listed off, trying to do as her friend asked and turn the conversation to another topic.

They chatted well into the night, unaware that the one subject Sakura had wished to avoid had set up his sentry position in a tree beside their tent, their words drifting up to his ears unbidden.

* * *

Two more days of traveling brought them nearer to the border between Fire and Wind country, and the trees Konoha was famous for had dwindled to clusters of specimens spread out over vast plains of open grass. 

Both Kages had apparently abandoned their official robes for the journey between cities, and now wore their more typical attire. Gaara especially, with his jet black outfit and fiery red hair, cut quite a figure riding atop his equally black stallion. Sakura had actually started out the day riding next to Gaara, but his tense atmosphere and reluctance to converse in any way had driven her to the back of the caravan to chat with her friends.

Through the morning Sakura noticed that Gaara rode with his eyes closed, though how he could lead a horse in that manner she didn't know. Twice he broke the routine to drop back and converse with Tsunade, long acquaintance allowing her adopted daughter to see through the calm façade she wore to the tension beneath at their hushed conversation.

Sakura resolved to speak to her and began riding forward on the outside of the caravan, when the barrels in the wagon she was passing literally exploded.

'_An attack?!!'_ Her horse, reacting violently to the unexpected terror, jumped and shied away to the edge of the road, though Sakura was able to jerk the reins enough to keep the mare from galloping off wildly. But in the precious seconds she took to get control of the horse, she missed two crucial points.

First, the explosion had been _sand_ escaping from the barrels, which was even now forming a protective umbrella over the entire caravan. And second, that she was now _outside_ this protection, where hundreds of arrows were free to rain down on her exposed flesh.

Hearing the whistle of many arrows all too late, Sakura was able to bat away only the one she knew would kill her. Two others hit her, one in her thigh and another in the juncture between her neck and shoulder, and her little mare screamed her death cry as arrows lodged in her neck, chest, and flank. Collapsing where she stood, Sakura found herself pinned under the weight of the animal as consciousness fled her body.

* * *

**Author's Note:** This was Jenn and Chapter 7 for a reeeeally long time: 

•stare•  
•stare•  
•staaaaaaare•  
•give up and flip over to download Naruto manga•  
•feel guilty for avoiding chapter, flip back•  
•repeat•

Pathetic but true. Hope you guys enjoyed the random bit of flower fluff with Gaara and Sakura, I really have NO idea where that came from. They were just going to leave, and then suddenly it's turning into this whole sweet flowery moment… Shêtân is the Black Stallion, © Walter Farley. I want to thank everyone who took the time to leave a review, but especially those people that pointed out grammar mistakes and made suggestions. I also want to say, I personally hateHateHATE when other people use "your" and "you're" incorrectly, and if it happens in THIS story it's definitely a typo. To me it's like having a bogger on your face or something, so please point it out so I can correct it. I spent some time going through the story so far and fixing as many mistakes as I could in past chapters, so they're all sparkly and shiny now too. ☺

I was really shocked that so many people liked what Gaara says to Sakura at the end of Chapter 6… I mean, how cornball can you get? I was 2 to 1 in favor of ditching it, I don't know why I kept such a hokey line, but I'm glad I did if many other people enjoyed it. I enjoy it too, but… the corniness… •twitches spastically•

And now for a deleted scene! I liked the flow of the camping scene, and though this is cute, I didn't really want to break the mood, so here you go…  
••••••••  
Eventually Tsunade assembled all the kunoichi in the caravans together and set out to find somewhere to bathe for the night. Before leaving, she also assembled all the men in the group, and in exacting medical detail described what Jiraiya had experienced when she had caught _him_ peeping on her. Making it clear that such pain would be akin to stubbing a toe if she caught anyone spying on their bath, and that none of the medic-nin would heal them so they might as well just kill themselves, the girls set out to find a stream or hot spring.  
••••••••


	8. Journey, continued

Through inky blackness Sakura began to feel... _heat_. Her detached consciousness observed that her skin burned as though liquid fire flowed through her veins, and her chest felt tight, constricted, every time her body tried to draw breath. _'Perhaps I'm burning to death…'_ was the thought that floated through her mind, though none of the typical emotions of fear or panic accompanied it.

A voice, a woman's voice, echoed down the dark eternity her psyche drifted in, though her words held no meaning, only tone. From her quiet, dark haven she began to be aware of a spreading coolness, flowing through her body like sand through an hourglass. Then the blackness consumed her once more.

* * *

Sakura came slowly awake, her eyes cracking open the tiniest amount to behold the face of her adopted mother. "Sakura… welcome back," Tsunade beamed down at her. Sakura returned her look blankly, trying to remember where she would be returning _from._

Thinking out loud, she said, "I remember riding… and… maybe an explosion? An arrow was flying toward my head… but I think I hit it away…" Pausing in her confused recollection, she asked, "What happened mother?"

Sighing in relief that her daughter hadn't suffered any head trauma from her fall, Tsunade replied, "Well, we have a little bit of time before we'll have to head out, everyone's resting at the moment. You've been unconscious for a day Sakura, we were attacked by a force of ninja from the Land of Earth yesterday, about two hundred strong."

Tsunade began to explain, "After you were hit…"

* * *

Being one of the two people to have prior knowledge of what exactly that barrel-filled wagon contained, Tsunade did not jerk her head around to identify the danger when they exploded. She knew the danger must be _without_, not within, and before the sheltering sand blocked her vision she witnessed hundreds of arrows arc gracefully up and down toward them. 

'_Where are they!'_ Tsunade's righteous anger thrummed through her muscles as she leaped from the wagon to search out the enemy. She knew the Kazekage had been using his Third Eye technique to keep watch from high above for any sign of an ambush. She also knew that he had been tense, approaching the border between their lands where it was easiest to sneak an attack force in, but he had seen _nothing_.

'_If they're not above, then they must be below!' _

Falling into a crouch and slamming both hands palm down to the ground, Tsunade pushed her chakra into the earth in a tidal wave of force. Anyone of lesser strength than herself using earth jutsu would be repelled out of the ground for her companions to kill. Her technique had a more immediate reaction than even she expected, as two Iwa ninja tumbled out of the ground six feet in front of her.

'_Perfect.'_ Tsunade's fists imploded the heads of the two enemy nin before they could understand what misfortune had befallen them, and she moved off to find her next target.

Meanwhile, Naruto had witnessed Sakura's horse's reaction to the violent escape of Gaara's sand, and in horror watched as his best friend was impaled by enemy arrows. 'SAKURA!!' Naruto screamed as he leaped from the wagon and dashed over to her. However, the appearance of three enemy nin seemingly popping right out of the ground in front of him prevented him from reaching her. Naruto didn't stop to register the disorientated look of the enemy, but instantly created several Kage Bunshin clones to deal with them as he leaped over and resumed his dash to Sakura.

Reaching Sakura, Naruto's clear blue eyes surveyed her injuries. Her horse had collapsed onto her left leg, pinning it under its more massive weight, while her right leg remained skewered to the animal's chest. Her most worrying injury was the arrow embedded between her shoulder and neck, going quite a ways in by the length of shaft still showing. Knowing that he would be able to do nothing about that arrow, Naruto instead leaned over and snapped the arrow in her leg off, as close to her skin as possible. Lifting her leg off the remainder of the arrow in one quick movement, he removed his own hitai-ite and wrapped the long band around her injury several times in an improvised tourniquet.

His Bunshin clones had returned from dispatching the enemy, and now stood around the original as they guarded against attack. Naruto barked at them to lift the horse enough for him to drag Sakura out from under its body, but before they could comply several disappeared in an onslaught of flying kunai.

Naruto recreated twice as many clones and launched them at the enemy, the final few staying and lifting the horse while Naruto grabbed Sakura's uninjured arm and pulled her free. One mask clad earth ninja, having fought a clear path to the two, now crouched on top of the dead horse's chest as he threw kunai at the undefended Naruto. His last two clones disappearing while he lifted Sakura in his arms, Naruto turned to retreat with his injured friend, but instead was forced to duck and roll to the side as shuriken whizzed by his head.

Sheltering Sakura's body with his own, Naruto realized that he wouldn't be able to get up in time to avoid the kunai flying toward him even now, when a wall of protective sand flew down from the sky and surrounded him. A sand clone with the appearance of the Kazekage stepped out of the wall and spoke to Naruto, voice sounding like the howling wind combined with grating rocks, "_Take her to the center of the caravan…"_ It pointed to the side, and a hole in the wall of sand opened up, where Naruto could even now see many of his party assembled and fighting.

Dashing through the fighting, sand swirling behind him protectively, Naruto yelled at the blond head and twin ponytails he could see wreaking havoc on the enemy as she laid the ground open under their feet. "TSUNADE! It's Sakura!" Naruto jumped in to the nearest wagon and laid Sakura down gently, joined a moment later by her mother and mentor. Apparently instructed in the same manner as he had been, Naruto saw his companions steadily fighting their way into a small cluster around his wagon.

As Tsunade examined Sakura, a swirl of sand brought Gaara to join them. Standing next to Naruto's shoulder, his eyes briefly lit upon the scene before him, before steeling and focusing outward. Raising his arms upwards in a graceful, orchestral manner, the sand around them began spinning ever more rapidly and increasing in volume. The party of Suna and Konoha representatives gathered closer and closer together to avoid the forming sandstorm, and the enemy, having had their ultimate safe retreat underground cut off, found themselves in the middle of the storm's fury with no where to run.

Gaara dumped chakra into the sand all around him, calling more sand from the ground and compressing it into small needles. The sandstorm swiftly transformed into a swirling hurricane of needles, shredding the enemy to pieces in a few short minutes. Having heard the last of the death cries and sensing no further resistance within, Gaara let his arms drop to his sides, the sand of the storm quickly falling to the ground as well.

No trace of the enemy could be seen, except for the slightly darker color of the sand surrounding the party.

* * *

After the fight they had been forced to reassemble everyone and track down the horses that had run off, then continue their journey to Sunagakure with as much haste as possible. Haste seemed to be a commodity sorely lacking though, as Sakura and Tsunade occupied one wagon, while the horses of another wagon and one Suna delegate had been killed. Rearranging horses to pull the wagon left even more people on foot, and their lack of speed had Gaara irritable and on edge. 

'_If we continue to Suna at this pace, no only are we exposed to another attack, our water supplies won't last the whole way through the desert.'_ The Hokage had been tending her daughter's injury, closing up the arrow punctures, knitting together muscle, and fighting off her fever. Gaara had even had to help with the last, Sakura's fever had been running to life-threateningly high levels. Tsunade asked him to form a shading umbrella with his sand over the wagon, then half bury Sakura with it. She directed him to cover her forehead and neck as much as possible, and then had asked the caravan for as much water as could be spared. Carrying away heat twenty times faster than air, Tsunade poured the water over her charge's body and head, the now wet sand keeping the cooling water against her skin.

They had traveled well into the night, but exhaustion had forced them to stop and make a fireless camp. Gaara had patrolled far and wide, sending his third eye high in the sky, and feeling tendrils of sand deep into the ground. He had woken them mercilessly as the first hint of dawn appeared on the horizon, hurrying them onward as fast as the slowest member could walk.

On the afternoon following the attack on their caravan, Gaara heard Tsunade conversing with the now conscious Sakura, telling her what had happened. Directing his stallion over to their wagon, Gaara peered over at the two, then addressed Tsunade, "We need to increase our pace, to avoid attack, but more importantly to get through the desert while we still have enough water supplies. Is Sakura well enough to be moved?"

Tsunade examined her charge as she thought, answering "Yes… She's healthy enough to ride double with someone else, and she can heal herself as we go. That would free this wagon to transport most of those walking, and the rest can ride double with the others."

"Good, she will ride with me," was all Gaara replied with. Gaara briefly instructed three of the kunoichi present to ride double with Gaara's advisors, explaining that their lighter weight wouldn't tire the horses out so quickly from carrying double. Naruto seemed ready to protest his Hinata riding with a strange man, but one deathly look from Gaara silenced him.

Gaara then brought Shêtân to the end of the wagon Sakura sat in, waiting for her. For her part, Sakura was not at _all_ thrilled with the idea of riding with Gaara, but the tension in the air kept her from voicing her objections. They had apparently just been waiting for her to recover enough to pick up their pace, and she certainly didn't want to be the cause of any further delay.

Tsunade used her formidable strength to carefully help Sakura to her feet. Her right leg and shoulder still ached terribly, the tissue was healing, but would need further treatments. Apparently Tsunade has spent much of her time healing Sakura's blood loss, infection, and fighting off the fever they induced, since the wounds had only been mended in the most cursory manner.

Walking over to the Kazekage, Tsunade helped Sakura get her leg over the back of the large horse, and before she realized what was happening strong hands had encircled her waist, gently lowering her to her seat in front of him. Sakura hissed in pain as her injured thigh muscle stretched over the horse's back, but all thoughts of pain fled as Gaara slowly wrapped an arm around her waist. _'Wha…!'_ Her breath caught at the familiar contact, but she allowed herself to be pulled securely against his warm chest. She could feel the tension thrumming through his arm, felt his chest rise and fall with breath, and she relaxed slightly into his sheltered embrace. _'Maybe this isn't so bad…'_

For his part, Gaara felt as though he had never held something so fragile, so soft, as he helped the woman he was meant to marry take a seat astride the horse before him. Her softness warred with his knowledge of her as a talented shinobi. _'How strange that something so soft can also be dangerous.'_ He heard her hiss in pain, and at once a strange feeling surged through him – guilt, that she had been hurt because he hadn't been good enough, fast enough, strong enough – fury, that anyone had dared to attack him and his party – and… something else. Something that made him feel as though he should never let her be hurt again.

Securing her to his body with one arm for the ride ahead, Gaara looked down at the pink hair before him, her shoulders fitting inside his own, and thought, _'I must protect her better; I am no kind of Kazekage if I can't even protect my own family.'_

Gaara directed the rest of the caravan members on foot to ride in the wagon, and they resumed their journey at the fastest pace the wagons could handle.

* * *

As Sakura rode with Gaara she tried to heal her injuries, starting with her thigh. The injury continued to twinge each time the horse took a step, and Sakura was afraid having it stretched so much would actually tear the wound open again. Their intimate proximity allowed Gaara to feel the shifting chakra inside her body, and he marveled that such perfect chakra control allowed her to heal her own body without otherwise moving. For several hours Gaara could feel Sakura's meditative healing state repairing her leg injury, then suddenly the healing chakra stopped, and Sakura slumped in Gaara's arm. 

'_She's been healing herself too much, to pass out like that._' Securing her limp body to his own, Gaara determined to order her not to overdo when she woke.

A few more hours of riding brought nightfall, and Sakura's return to awareness. Sensing her wake, Gaara opened his mouth to tell her not to spend so much energy healing in one session, but shocked both of them when the only thing to come forth was "I'm sorry… that you got hurt…"

Sakura felt the soft words rumble through his chest and into her ear, causing her jaw to drop a little from surprise. The Kazekage Gaara never apologized, that she knew of, and she was grateful that Gaara couldn't see the look on her face. Answering shyly, she said, "Um, it's ok… it's not really your fault, I wasn't watching for the enemy like I should have…"

"No," he interrupted just as quietly, but with more force, "I was able to protect everyone," his arm tightening around her, "Everyone but you."

Sakura didn't know how to reply to this, and she awkwardly patted the arm that threatened to squeeze the breath out of her. "It's ok, I'm alive, and from what Tsunade told me it's because you saved Naruto and I. You saved all of us. It's not like it's the first time I've been injured anyway, this is nothing."

Loosening his grip on her and attempting to get ahold of his emotions, Gaara fell silent. Sakura endured the hush for a few minutes before being driven to speak. "Gaara, how long until we stop for the night?"

Gaara snapped out of his self recriminations, thinking about the answer to her question. He had not intended to stop for several hours, even though it was already dark, to make up for lost time the previous day. He replied, "When traveling through the desert, we will have to take shelter through the hottest part of the day and move at night. The further we can make it now, the more water reserves we will have for later. I had not intended to call a halt until at least midnight."

"How long will it take to get through the desert?" Sakura had never had occasion to visit the Land of Wind, and knew only the basics of desert survival from her genin days. They had packed warm clothes for the cool nights, and extra canteens of water had been in the wagons, at least before Tsunade had used many of them on her.

Thoughtfully, Gaara answered, "Two days through the desert itself, and one day across the rocky plateau, which we will reach early tomorrow. If nothing else happens, we should reach Sunagakure on the end of the third day. Should a sandstorm hit, we will be… delayed."

A small thread of mischief wormed its way through Sakura's mind, and she decided to see if the Great Kazekage Gaara could take a little teasing. Turning in her seat enough to see his reaction, she asked coyly, "But you're with us, surely a sandstorm poses no threat, oh Master of All That Is Grainy."

If he'd had eyebrows one would have tweaked at her mild ribbing, but as it was his eyes simply opened wider in surprise, then narrowed slightly as he looked away from her face. _'Oh come on, that wasn't too bad right?'_ Sakura worried, but before she could apologize he retorted in his own way.

"In the desert sandstorms come an average of once a week, sometimes just for a few hours, sometimes they will blow for a day or more. I have been using my abilities to keep the Third Eye active ever since I left Sunagakure, scanning for danger. I have also been keeping my personal sand, which forms the gourd you asked about earlier, suspended high in the air above us so it can react quickly to any threat. And even if I don't sleep, I need time to rest and meditate, which has been curtailed by taking watch much of the night. So if a sandstorm does hit, I have too little reserve energy to subdue it entirely. The best I could do would be to simply cocoon us from the danger until it passed over, but we must keep moving."

'_Geesh! Lay on the guilt why don't you!'_ Sakura backpedaled, stuttering out "I… I'm sorry… I had no idea you were doing all that…" But as she trailed off, she caught a slight glint in his eye, perhaps a twitch of the corners of his mouth, as he looked forward. "Hey… wait a minute. Are you teasing me??" she demanded, trying to turn around to face him more fully, but could only get one shoulder against his chest. At least she could mostly look him in the face. In fact, his face was entirely _too_ close, even with only the moon and stars for light she could see every feature…

"I spoke only the truth," he evasively answered. Sakura settled for a harrumph and silence, turning around to face forward again.

A gentle breeze blew across them, carrying the scent of desert sands and desiccating winds, a promise of things to come. Sakura quietly spoke to the man behind her, "Thank you… for protecting us."

His arm tightened around her waist a miniscule amount, and his low reply reached only her ears, "You are welcome."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Come and join me at my newly created livejournal account, we can discuss all kinds of things about writing, life, and the premise of this story. (remove spaces) archchic. livejournal. com 

Thank you US Army Survival Manual, for all your wonderful instruction on desert survival! I bought you YEARS ago, never expecting to need you (but hey, you were cheap with my employee discount) but lo and behold! No knowledge ever goes to waste, and books are NEVER clutter!

So I hadn't started out intending on getting Sakura hurt, I just wanted to kill off her horse so she'd have to ride with Gaara, but injured works too. Perhaps this is moving too fast, quick, someone drive a wedge between them! But for now… let us luxuriate in the fluff…_ aaaaah…_

This was my first rendition of the opening scene of this chapter. Word processing programs have virtually eliminated from writing the ability to look back at previously written scenes and understand how you improved them – we just delete and start again. I'd like to try and keep as many of these little snippets as possible, for my own curiosity if nothing else, but perhaps readers will enjoy seeing how it _could_ have been:  
_Heat_ was the first thing that Sakura's mind could comprehend as she swam out of the inky blackness of oblivion. Her first conscious thought was _'I'm burning to death,'_ though the concept carried no feelings of panic or fear as it floated through her mind. The first thing she heard was her sensei's stern voice, though the words carried no meaning, only tone.


	9. Journey, finished

•_THUMP!_•

Sakura's rear hit the bare dirt at Shêtân's hooves. _'Ok… I moved my legs, but when I went to stand, instead all I get is wet noodles for muscles? You know what? This horse riding stuff is for the birds…'_ She muttered loudly, "Ooooow… dammit…"

After days of riding, Sakura's leg muscles had apparently decided that straddling a horse, while healing, was quite enough punishment and had gone on strike. The chuckling of her companions around her didn't help her mood any, and she glared at her legs as though they'd personally insulted her. _'What the hell, I spend all that time healing you and this is the thanks I get?'_

"If you need help down, you only need to ask." Gaara stoically looked on her from atop his horse, thankfully _not_ laughing.

'_Oh shut up you godforsaken, arrogant, horse-flea-ridden Kazekage _jerk_…'_ Sakura glared up at the man, still unable to make her legs respond to her commands. "Of _course_ I don't need help, why would I _possibly_ need help getting off a horse taller than me, when I've never ridden so much in my entire _life_, and oh yeah, I spent all of the past day healing my own body!" she spat sarcastically.

The picture of grace and the very antithesis of Sakura, Gaara dismounted. Crouching beside her, he examined her closely before asking, "Are you all right?"

Sakura stared back for a moment, slightly caught off guard by the thoughtful question. "Yeah… I'm all right, I finished healing both my leg and shoulder earlier, but I think now my muscles are just temporarily atonic. I should be able to move in a bit."

"Very well." Gaara stood again, and moving the massive bulk of his horse slightly away, began removing the horse's tack and slinging it over a nearby wagon's side walls to dry.

Sakura sat in the dirt, mute with astonishment. When Gaara started brushing the horse down for the night, she'd had enough, yelling out, "HEY!! Are you just going to leave me here or what?"

Not even looking up from grooming the stallion, Gaara spoke, "And where would you move to? We are not camping for the night, but taking a short rest. When Tsunade finishes setting up your bedroll I will move you to it." Adding slyly, "If you are still unable to do so yourself."

Naruto's cackling from a short distance away as he and Hinata set up their own temporary sleeping roll made Sakura's vision run red. _'DAMN him, letting my mommy lay out my bed and tucking me into it? Hell no will I let that happen!'_ Pumping chakra into her legs, she got on her hands and wobbly knees, then, slowly, tried flexing her right leg forward. When her right foot was securely against the ground, she transferred her arms to brace against that knee, and began to deliberately straighten her leg.

She was far too concentrated on the simple task of standing to notice Gaara watching her intently. After an agonizing minute Sakura succeeded in straightening her right leg, then pulled her left to stand firmly below her. Trembling visibly, she reveled in the feeling of success. _'I'll show that conceited little twerp just who's the Second Captain of ANBU in Konoha! I heal my own leg and shoulder good as new, which none of them except Tsunade can even dream of doing, but my legs give out in fatigue and that's all they see! Dammit!'_

One foot slowly in front of the other, Sakura began to walk to where she saw Tsunade unpacking their bedrolls. She got a few steps away from Gaara's horse, when just like before, she moved her leg forward for the next step, and all the muscles refused to respond. Gaara had been watching for just such a possibility however, and with a ninja's speed caught Sakura's elbow in a vice-like supporting grip, preventing her from falling. "Doesn't a medic usually caution the patient to not strain themselves shortly after injury?" He asked calmly. _'I'll have to watch out for her prideful streak.'_

"I don't need your help!" she spat defiantly, irrespective of the fact that his support of her arm was all that kept her from collapsing again. She straightened wobbly legs under her and attempted to wrench her arm away from his touch. But having little leverage against Gaara's steely grip, she failed rather miserably, and settled for giving his helping hand a sour look.

'_Of course not,'_ he silently thought, walking toward their resting place while still supporting Sakura's arm. With trembling steps and Gaara's steadying hand, Sakura made it to Tsunade without further incident and settled onto her bedroll.

Gaara was as good as his word on a short rest, awakening the sleeping caravan at two hours past midnight. The previous day spent passing over the rocky plateau had been mercilessly hot, but they had not stopped until they reached the edge of the desert itself. Sakura and the others donned the warm, loose clothing they had been instructed to pack before leaving, to protect against the frigidly cold desert night, and prepared to leave.

Sakura was happy to find that her legs were functioning perfectly normally at the moment, and observed the others packing in the half-moon's desert light. Seeing Gaara already mounted and awaiting the caravan members, she decided it might be better to see if she could ride in Tsunade's wagon. The aggravation of the previous night mingled with a strange uncomfortable feeling in her stomach when she thought of riding through the day with the man. Unlike the previous days, she wouldn't be sleeping or in a healing trance through much of it, and being so intimately close for hours…

Putting on her best innocent smile and walking up to her mother, Sakura asked, "Can I join you today Tsunade?"

Tsunade stood beside the wagon, waiting for the final loads to be packed in a tired, bored manner. At Sakura's question however, her face alit with a devilish smile. Not hesitating a moment, she answered firmly, "NO."

"But…"

"NO. And you can't ride in Kakashi's wagon either. In fact I order you not to step foot in any wagons in this caravan." Arms crossed over her ample chest, Tsunade faced her daughter head on, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Sakura's face contorted in annoyance, and with sarcasm dripping from her voice said, "You know, you can't actually _order_ me to do anything, remember…"

Cutting in, Tsunade said, "Who said the _Hokage_ was ordering you to do anything? As your _mother_ I'm ordering you." Turning Sakura around and pushing her away, she intoned, "You already have a ride, go!"

Stumbling a few steps away from the wagon, she growled and turned to look back to where Tsunade was laughing lightly. _'Evil woman…'_

Gaara had observed the whole exchange, and directed his horse over to stand beside Sakura. "If you do not wish my company…"

"No! It's not like that, I just didn't… uh… want to _impose_ on you any more…" she stuttered, trying to cover up her true reasons for avoiding the man.

Gaara didn't respond, simply holding his hand out to help her up. A sinking feeling settling through her body, Sakura looked at the proffered aid and thought, _'Crap, now if I say anything I'm being rude. Damn you Tsunade!'_

"Uhh… thanks…" came her unenthusiastic reply as she took his hand, and with Gaara's help she easily slid into the seat in front of him. He seemed to exert no effort at all to lift her up, and Sakura marveled briefly at his strength. _'Hauling around all that sand all the time must do wonders for your muscle tone…'_

The chill midnight air blew over the camp once more, and Sakura shivered slightly. But when Gaara reached around her to grasp the reins in both hands, Sakura's shivering continued for an entirely different reason, the warmth of his thighs and chest as they pressed against her suddenly all _too_ apparent. _'I don't know how much more of this emotional, hormonal rollercoaster I can take…'_

Calling the caravan to assemble, Gaara led them off surrounded by cool darkness sprinkled with stars.

* * *

The caravan traveled all through the night and into morning, only stopping when the sun had reached a quarter of its way across the sky. With the sun's dawning the party could see clearly for miles – they were now in the deep desert, with sandy, rocky dunes surrounding them. Even the glancing light of the morning sun was enough to lift the chill, and the entire party began to shed their warm outer layers. By the time they stopped many from Konoha were feeling exhausted and parched from the unrelenting sun as it beat down upon them. 

An ocean of boulder-strewn nothingness seemed to surround them, but with unerring accuracy Gaara had led them to a mazelike wadi - a small canyon carved out by the once-a-century flooding rains. It seemed the Suna party had stopped here before, as the bottom of a large section of wadi was filled with smooth sand. They hid their wagons behind rocks and crags nearby, unhitching the horses to accompany them down into the sandy shelter.

Sakura stood by Gaara and his horse, waiting for the caravan members to finish clambering down the steep path to the bottom. Once everyone was down, Gaara put two fingers to his right temple and closed his eyes in concentration.

Sakura faced a moment's puzzlement at what on earth he was doing, until she heard a rumbling above her, and the sun's harsh rays were shadowed from view. Her mouth open in a silent "Oh", Sakura watched mutely as a curtain of sand moved to bridge the walls of the wadi, spreading across to either side until the entire party was more than covered, and then down almost touching the ground. Once the sand had stopped shifting, there could be seen at the edges of the cover a foot of light, but otherwise they were shrouded in darkness.

'_Amazing… We'll stay cool in the shade, protected and hidden in the canyon, and the blowing wind will keep the air moving through our shelter. And he hasn't broken a sweat all day.'_ Sakura marveled as she stared at the Kazekage in the dim light, her admiration for his strategic thinking increasing. _'He's truly a creature of the desert.'_

Gaara, for his part, was feeling weary with the outpouring of chakra controlling the sand, and his concentration was occupied trying to compress the sand around them to hold its shape easier. His eyes still closed but sensing Sakura nearby, he called to her, "Sakura… would you tend my horse and get me a canteen, please."

"Oh, sure!" she acquiesced readily, reaching into their saddlebags to find a full canteen for him. Gaara took it from her, eyes still closed, and sank gracefully into a meditative posture in the sand. Sakura turned around to face the wide-eyed stare of Gaara's intimidating black stallion, thinking with none-too-little trepidation, _'Uh… ok horse! We've been together for just a few days now, but so far you haven't tried to bite me or kick me or anything… So keep it up! I'm a kick-ass kunoichi and I can take a dumb horse on any day of the week!'_

Ignoring the ridiculousness of trying to intimidate a _horse_ inside her own thoughts, Sakura reached out to touch the horse's neck tentatively. Other than shuddering his skin and continuing to stare at her, Shêtân took no action. Taking this as encouragement, she trailed her hand along his shoulders to the saddle, and began unhooking all the saddlebags and tack. Once his bridle was off as well she brushed the well behaved animal down, with him leaning into her grooming appreciatively.

'_Maybe you aren't so wild after all…'_ she thought as she led him over to stand with the other horses for the duration. Flopping down in the sand next to Gaara, she peered curiously at his meditative posture, asking, "Are you ok? Need anything else?"

"No, thank you for what you've done. You should rest while you can, we will leave again in a few hours," Gaara replied.

"I'm not tired, I never really take naps…" she thought aloud, leaning back on her hands and gazing up at the sand dome, eyes unfocused.

"Your body is tired, even if your mind is not. Lay down and rest or you will be in poor condition to travel through the night," he sternly commanded.

Sakura ignored the remark, pondering, "I just don't see how you do without sleep, a human body needs the opportunity to repair itself, consolidate memory, and release hormones to regulate body processes…"

Gaara had no answer to her question, and chose to stay silent. But Sakura's medical curiosity was piqued, and with such a unique case literally within arm's reach, she couldn't let it go just yet. She leaned in quite close to his shoulder, asking, "Gaara… can I examine you? Just a light brush of chakra to see if I can get a hint of how you manage with no sleep…"

For the first time since he put up the shading canopy of sand, his eyes snapped open and he regarded her warily. Studying her harmlessly curious gaze, he paused for several moments in consideration before firmly stating, "Do not probe deeply," and closing his eyes again.

Mildly surprised that he had agreed, Sakura took the invitation and scooted around until she could sit directly beside him, placing her left hand on the firm expanse of his back, between his shoulder blades. Sending out a very mild scanning chakra field, she began to lightly explore the structure of chakra in his body, looking for anything unusual.

She didn't have to look long however, as it quickly became apparent to Sakura that Gaara's chakra paths were radically different than an ordinary person's. Focusing her consciousness to more and more minute levels, Sakura was able to observe how Gaara's chakra paths interacted with his body.

A normal ninja had chakra lines much like a circulatory system, but with only one path, leading away from the cells which generate chakra, to the person's chakra heart, where mind and body chakra were mixed and focused. Sakura perceived Gaara's chakra as a strong golden glow, and the paths away from his cells and through his body flowed like bright molten gold.

What made his body so unusual was a separate chakra system flowing _toward_ his cells. This one burned with an unholy red, and Sakura knew this must be due to the demon sealed inside his body. Fascinated by this arrangement, she reasoned that the demon's chakra must work to continuously restore his cells. _'It's a lot like Tsunade's rebirth technique…'_ she thought, reaching forward to explore this phenomenon, _'but are his cells actually being forced into accelerated division?'_

Sakura delved deeper to find the answer to her questions, but inadvertently touched the demon's red chakra too strongly. Unaware of what she had done, she began to hear a deep, unholy cackling in the back of her mind, and then a rushing wind, pulling her… down… _down…_

_surging gold chakra, flooding her awareness – red chakra retreating… drowning… letting go…_

Sakura felt herself brutally jarred out of her meditative state, her eyes suddenly opening. Gaara had apparently violently knocked her hand away, and the look he speared her with brought terrifying memories of their genin days back to the front of her consciousness. "_I warned you!"_ he hissed furiously at her, "Do you realize what could have _happened to you?"_

Reeling from the petrifying experience, Sakura scrambled backward a bit, stuttering "I… I… I didn't mean to… I didn't think I was probing deeply at all… I just barely touched your outer chakra paths…"

Still furious at the provocation of the demon he kept so tightly sealed away, but sensing her sincerity that she hadn't tried to overstep her bounds, Gaara's vicious countenance softened somewhat. "I cannot be healed by medic-nin - their attempts result in their deaths."

Sakura looked back, her expression fading from terror to a mixture of sadness and horror. Gaara turned forward again, away from her, and closed his eyes once more. Free of his piercing gaze, Sakura collected herself for a moment, then looked around in embarrassment. Apparently their entire exchange had been quiet enough to escape the notice of those resting around her though, as she saw no one looking in their direction.

Turning her roving eyes back to Gaara's still figure, Sakura felt a surge of guilt for what she'd done, but also felt a strong swell of understanding. She'd just experienced a tiny hint of what he must have had to fight with _every day_ of his life. How he had the strength to fend off the madness she'd felt licking at her mind she didn't know, but her respect for him grew yet another few notches.

Scooting back toward him, she quietly said, "I'm sorry."

His forgiving reply came without a single change in outward expression, "Please do not attempt to do such a thing again. Now rest."

Sakura could have left his side, could have gone anywhere in their shaded enclosure, but the thought of moving from her position left her feeling like she would only gain regret by doing so. _'There's no running away from life…'_ Instead, she stretched out on her back in the soft sand next to him, thinking _'I'll just lay down here and try and rest, I can sleep on the ride later._

'_But… I'm going to have sand in _every_ crack after this. Maybe…'_

"Gaara, would you pull the sand out of my clothes when it's time for us to leave?"

"If you wish."

Knowing that it didn't matter how much sand invaded her clothes now, she shifted in her place until the sand formed a pleasant cushion around her body. "It still might be worthwhile for me to try and learn how your body copes without sleep… Helping a shinobi to go without sleep in extreme circumstances would be a very valuable technique," she pondered aloud. _'Not to mention, if you ever _did_ need to be healed, we need to know of a way to do it.'_ Gaara made no response, but she knew he must be listening and chose to continue. "I promise, now that I know what might happen, I'll be more careful… I'm not the apprentice of a legendary Sannin for nothing…"

'_She's asking me to trust her strength. What she says is true, it _would_ be a very valuable technique… but…'_ Gaara answered her, "Perhaps later, after you have convinced me that you're capable of doing it without the demon consuming you."

Sakura figured that was probably the best she was going to get, and after the close experience she felt he was probably right. _'At least he didn't dismiss the idea completely out of hand…'_

Feeling as though her mind was too full of ideas to ever sleep in such a strange place, Sakura didn't even realize she was tired before the heat and stress of the day had lulled her into slumber.

* * *

Gaara awoke them two hours before sunset, simply rolling back the shading sand and letting the sky's brightness shine in. Gaara obligingly summoned the sand out of Sakura's clothes, and the party assembled and left without incident. 

Gaara had told them before leaving that if they pushed through the night, they would reach Sunagakure before noon the next day. Eager to get past the harsh desolation of the desert, no one objected to this plan. Through the night Sakura heard her friends chatting, sharing stories and techniques, and mentally cursed Tsunade for not allowing her to join them. Riding with Gaara was mostly a ride in silence, but occasionally she would succeed in drawing a bit of conversation out of him. She asked about his village, their ninja training program, and their medic-nins and hospitals especially.

Eventually the darkness began to recede, pastel hues of pink, red, blue, and green spilling into the sky. The horizon began to melt into the sunrise, and soon it was impossible to tell where one ended and the other began. But however beautiful the sunrise was, the full exposure of the sun soon dominated their awareness with piercing light and oppressive heat.

They did not have to endure long however, for just as Gaara had stated, the cliffs which surrounded Sunagakure began rising out of the ground. As they approached, Sakura began to get a sense of the _scale_ of the cliffs ahead of them, and marveled at the sight. The cliff face had been cut into huge terraces, and directly in the center of the terraced section was an unnaturally sharp pass, running straight up.

She couldn't help exclaiming softly as it became apparent that the tiny figures moving at the base of the cliffs were _people_. "Woooow… Gaara, how did that pass get cut through the rock so clean and straight? It's _huge!_"

Having lived with the scenery his whole life, Gaara felt rather blasé about it, but Sakura's innocent wonder gave him cause to be proud of his village. "The first Kazekage knew powerful earth jutsu, and when his clan decided to settle in the sheltered valley beyond, he cut the path for the clan to enter. He cut the cliffs beside it to serve as sentry outposts, to welcome other clans who wished to join them, and to warn clans who might want to fight them for what they had."

"He was your great-great-grandfather, right?" Sakura asked, thinking back to what the ambassador had said about the Kazekage title being inherited.

"Yes," came the simple reply.

"Do you know any of his earth jutsu, passed down through your family?" Sakura asked, her awe at the tale of the village before them making her forget momentarily about just _what_ exactly had transpired between Gaara and his own father.

He answered stiffly, "I know some, but not because I learned it from my father."

Confused, Sakura asked, "Then… how…"

Thick emotion made Gaara's deep voice take on some of the menace that used to lace it as a child. "The first Kazekage died sealing Shukaku into the teakettle that was his prison before myself. I know some of the First's techniques because I have Shukaku's memories inside me."

Sakura gasped, and turned around to look him in the eye, but Gaara ignored her questing gaze and kept his eyes forward toward his home. Turning back around, Sakura began to apologize, but was cut off by Gaara's stern voice.

"I answered your questions because you will need to know much more than that about the family and village you are joining. Both the wonders… and the horrors."

At a loss for words, Sakura only nodded. Silence reigned until they reached the base of the cliffs, where sentries and one familiar face greeted them.

Temari looked up at her younger brother and smiled.

"Welcome back, Kazekage-sama."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Jenn: I just want to skip to Sunagakure!  
Chapter 9: Hah! You wish loser, write me properly dammit!  
Jenn: But I'm tired of traveling! I want to get to the good stuff!  
Chapter 9: I DEMAND you write me, biotch! Stop slacking off!  
Jenn: •whimper• ...jerk.

Pistol-whipped by my own story… Please join me at my livejournal account for discussion about the research that went into this chapter, and much more!! archchic. livejournal. com


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